New equipment, same problems: just like their “low tech” predecessors, Linky meters can also be manipulated in order to reduce users’ electricity bills. As reported by France 3, a suspect was arrested in Gard. He is accused of having modified the Linky meter of several people at their request in order to install a bypass. And reduce the amount of the invoice.
In November 2023, seven people suspected of having used this type of manipulation had already been taken into custody for “energy theft” in the town of Alès in Gard, after a report from Enedis .
They are not the only ones to have been tempted: in December, two people were convicted in Doubs for offering to tamper with Linky meters for remuneration. According to France Bleu, they have been carrying out the modifications since June 2022 for sums ranging between 1000 and 2500 euros. Around forty clients were identified by the investigation and the two defendants were sentenced to prison terms of one to two years, including one year suspended, as well as fines.
Several thousand proven cases
The technique used does not imply any vulnerability in the operation of the software installed in the device. But the use of a “bypass” via the installation of an electrical cable connecting two terminals inside the meter.
“These frauds are mainly carried out from a derivation on the electrical panel, thus bypassing the meter so that it can no longer detect all or part of the electrical consumption of the appliances in the home” tells ZDNET a door -word of Enedis.
Enedis explains that it has noted “several tens of thousands of suspected fraud and several thousand proven cases which are the subject of cases filed with the courts” and estimates that the phenomenon is “on the rise over the last twelve months”. The company systematically files a complaint when it notices this type of modification, but also alerts beneficiaries to the risks that these tinkerings can pose to users.
The security of Linky meters therefore has limits. But Enedis has new tools to detect and prevent this type of modification. The consumption data reported by the Linky meters can, for example, be compared to those of the rest of the building to identify abnormal consumption. And opening the meter without authorization triggers a signal to Enedis.
On the other hand, the modifications taking place on the physical layer of the device will complicate the task of stemming the phenomenon: it is impossible to “patch” the flaw, and replacing the meters seems to be out of the question given the difficulties encountered during deployment. initial of Linky.