The Cuban regime imposed fines of more than seven million pesos for electrical fraud in the residential sector of Ciego de Avila, the official press reported.
the gate Cubadipati He noted that as part of the “firm response to electricity fraud,” more than 7,508,000 pesos had been collected as of the end of November “as a result of the detection of 707 energy consumption frauds, equivalent to 1,805.9 megawatt-hours.”
Authorities expect this number to rise heading into December, as an additional 73 scams were reported during the first 22 days of this month, the memo said.
Luis Alberto Hernandez San Blas, commercial director of the provincial electricity company, explained that violators were fined 500 pesos, and kilowatts that were not invoiced for a year were calculated according to the electrical equipment in the house.
The official said that the theft of electricity by subscribers constitutes a violation of the metering system with the aim of reducing their real consumption and is punishable by current laws.
Hernandez San Blas pointed out that among the increasingly sophisticated methods used is the use of powerful magnets that prevent the measurement of all the energy consumed in the meter, as well as the direct connection of one or more high-consumption equipment to avoid the aforementioned record.
The commercial director indicated that if electrical fraud is discovered, Decree Law No. 260 of 1998 regarding personal violations will be implemented. Electrical service.
In December of last year, Cuban had to do just that He paid more than 146,000 pesos in fines Charged with electrical fraud in Sancti Spiritus County, for stealing electricity from Sancti Spiritus Electric Company (EESS).
Last November, the Cuban regime authorities announced that electricity theft in the country amounted to 20 gigawatt-hours during the month of October, a number equivalent to 20,000 megawatt-hours.
“In October, confronting fraud and technical losses in electricity service allowed us to recover about 20 GWh in Cuba. Of this value, 17.32 GWh corresponds to Havana, equivalent to more than 3,800 tons of fuel,” he noted. on Wednesday on his social networks Caribbean Channel.
The Cuban authorities point out that the current Decree No. 260 applies to those who commit violations in the electricity service, and according to official media, this crime is included in the Penal Code of the Republic of Cuba and includes fines whose value is subject to review, in addition to other measures.
The general director of the Havana Electric Company explained that the law allows for retroactive penalties. “It allows for a retroactive application to that customer one year in advance for all the power that goes out of service, and that's where the amounts are significant.”
“We have implemented retroactive fines, which come with retroactive fines of 50,000 or 100,000 pesos, without any problem whatsoever, which is of course a function of the physical burden on the client and in correspondence with the scale of the fraud,” explains Castillo Salas.
In addition to financial penalties, authorities can leave first-time violators without electricity service for 72 hours. Repeat offenders may be dismissed from service for up to 15 days.
Cubans criticize the necessity of doing so Pay high fees And also facing endless power outages.
