In Belgium, a septuagenarian had found an (illegal) way of not paying his gas and electricity bills for 18 years. Pinned by justice, he must now pay a large sum to his supplier.
An idea not to be reproduced. While the price of electricity has exploded all over Europe and the French fear power cuts this winter, even if it means having to throw away their entire freezer, there are some for whom life was sweeter. Indeed, as the Belgian media tells us 7 out of 7a man did not pay his bills to his supplier for eighteen years. And it wasn’t an error on the part of the supplier that the Belgian forgot to point out. Not far from here ! The man now in his seventies was indeed defrauding his supplier.
The smart guy had tinkered with his electricity meter. Thanks to this manipulation, the heating used to heat his personal home and his workshop was not counted. “The meter was read for the last time in April 2002. Since then, the consumption indicated was abnormally low for a person living alone”said Ores, the Belgian energy company.
Electricity meter fraud: a very heavy penalty
And if you are suggested not to reproduce this at home, it is because the sanction is very heavy! This Belgian was ordered to reimburse the Ores company for all these years of fraud. Result, in eighteen years of unpaid, the septuagenarian must now repay 96,000 euros to Ores. Indeed, he was tried before the Eupen Criminal Court and sentenced to a six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 1,600 euros. In addition to 96,000 euros that he must reimburse Ores. A very heavy penalty that was probably not worth all those years of saving.