7 signs that energy theft is happening at your home

Could you spot energy theft at your property? Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action estimates up to 250,000 cases of energy theft go unreported every year. On top of this, there has been a startling rise in the number of energy thefts reported to Crimestoppers – an increase of almost 50% over a 10 month period.

It’s estimated that more than £1.4bn of energy is stolen each year across the UK – thefts motivated by high gas and electricity charges and a volatile energy price cap (a cap that’s forecast to rise to £1,736 a year in January 2025, for average dual-fuel bill, according to Cornwall Insight).

With so much energy being illegally syphoned, what should households be looking for? People need to pay attention to both their digital smart energy meters inside and their physical meter boxes outside.

Here are seven signs that energy theft could be happening at your home.

1. Your external meter box is exposed: if your meter box is in a cupboard attached to an outside wall, energy thieves will need to gain access. One telltale sign of theft is a door or cover that’s open when you’re sure you have locked or secured it.

2. Your external meter box is damaged: forced entry into a meter box may show as chipped paint, a cracked cover or buckled metal. If the box has a lock, this may be removed, scratched or broken.

3. You see something out of place: if you notice scorch marks, melted areas, loose wires, sparks or even smoke inside your meter box, your electricity supply may have been tampered with. When it comes to the theft of gas, suspicious signs include pipework that is out of place, rubber piping that should be metallic, meters that are facing backwards, the smell of gas and dials/displays that are not moving.

4. Persistent high energy consumption: digital smart meters are good at telling us when lots of energy is being used by the dial moving from green to red. Noticing you’re in the red when the central heating isn’t on or when power hungry appliances are switched off is an energy theft red flag. 

5. Your energy bills have jumped in cost: keeping track of your daily/weekly/monthly energy spend will make it easier to spot if someone is syphoning off your gas and/or electricity. Look out for a sudden spike – especially if you haven’t changed your energy habits.

6. You wake up to high meter readings: with lights, appliances and the central heating all usually turned off at night, it is worrying to wake up to a high consumption of gas or electricity.

7. You experience unplanned and unexplained power issues: tampering with electricity supplies can compromise the entire system. This may manifest itself as short power outages, longer power cuts and flickering lights.

Despite being stolen in an act of desperation or just dishonesty, energy theft is illegal. Stealing gas and electricity can also leave households at grave risk, with an increased chance of gas leaks, electrocution, house fires, shocks, burns and even death.

Energy theft preventative measures include:

• Securing external meter boxes
• Conducting regular external meter box inspections
• Closely monitoring digital smart meters for extreme and unusual usage
• Logging daily/weekly/monthly energy consumption
• Checking dials/displays are working on external meter boxes

If you can smell gas, contact the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately. You can report energy theft online via Stay Energy Safe or call 0800 023 2777.