Re: energy in UK

On 2025-04-18 16:51, john larkin wrote:

On Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:52:18 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
 

On 2025-04-18 10:19, Martin Brown wrote:

On 18/04/2025 01:26, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-04-17 23:11, Don Y wrote:

...

Previously, al houses had a limiter switch with a lead seal. People
managed to bypass that switch. By passing the meter is harder, I
have not seen it done.

>
Traditional way in the UK is a copper nail through the cables on the
wrong side of the meter. A method beloved of illegal cannabis farms.

>
I don't know if smart meters can sense that :-?

 The meter that I designed noted the neutral current imbalance, which
at least catches one cheating mode. No meter can tell if people are
stealing power from the pole out on the street, except to note net
power.
 In New York city it was common for building owners to punch through a
wall to tap into a neighbor's power wires. It wasn't unusual to find
that being done in both directions.

Gosh :-(
That's more difficult in Spain, because apartment walls are made of brick and mortar. It is very noisy to drill a hole in an 8 cm thick brick wall.
However, on most apartment buildings the meters are centralized in a small room in the ground or basement floors, and there indeed electricians sometimes find cables going from a meter to their neighbour!
--
Cheers, Carlos.