ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Warning: Thieves Can Steal Your Electricity Legally and Put You in Jail

Updated on March 19, 2013

Introduction:

Read my personal experience with an unwanted guest stealing my electric from my boat dock. Find out what I had to do to make my unwanted guest leave my property. Learn how easy someone can hook up to your electric than put you in jail for shutting their power off which you are paying for.

"How People Can Steal Your Electricity Legally - How To Stop Them."

Source

How I Found Out My Electricity was Being Stolen

My story started when I looked out my back door and seen a big boathouse next to my boat-dock. I just came home from vacation. I didn't think much about this boathouse at first because boats go by all the time.

Naturally I was tired from traveling and just wanted to unpack my clothes and relax. The next day after I got rested up from traveling. I decided to wash some clothes. I walked through my backyard with my laundry to my shed. I started the wash a machine.

I looked toward my boat-dock and seen that boathouse again with a man fishing off the top of his boathouse.

Still I didn't notice a power cord hooked up to my dock. I walked out to my back porch and sat down and watched this man fish. I walked out to my boat-dock and asked the man if he is catching any fish?

That is when I noticed he had a power cord going to my electric panel on my dock. I didn't say anything about it and neither did he.

I sat back down on my porch and had a few drinks. I started thinking. Why didn't he tell me he was hooked up to my electric?

The more I drank the more upset I was getting. So when my husband came home. I told him about the man in the houseboat and told him he was plugged into out the electric panel on the dock.

My husband went out to the boat dock and talk to the man. He asked the man why he was plugged into our electric?

He said because I can! The man didn't even offer an excuse. My husband was fuming at this point.

My husband went out to the boat-dock and told the man to leave then unplugged the mans cord and threw the cord over to his boathouse.

A few hours later the cops showed up at our house. The cop said we could not just cut his power off in any way. The cops plugged the thief electric cord back into my boat-dock electric panel.

The cop then told us that we had to evict the guy. Before the cop left. He said whatever you do not turn this mans power off or I will be forced to put you in jail.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! So I tried to legally evict this man. Well I couldn't get him evicted because he was living in what they call public property because his boat was in the canal.

So I called the environmental agency. I explained to them what was going on. They didn't know what I could do either. I asked them if they could make him leave because of him flushing raw sewage into the canal.

They said they would look into it and call me back. These people in the environmental office never heard of a situation like this and was working hard to help me get rid of this guy legally.

They couldn't do nothing or even suggest anything for us to try to get this guy out. So I called a property attorney they had no answers to how I could get rid of my unwanted guests.

I Couldn't Evict Him the Legal Way So I Got Rid Of Him My Way

Several weeks went by and this guy was living off my electric for free and I had enough of trying to evict him legally.

So I told my husband how I plan to get rid of this thief. We waited until the man went to sleep. I snuck out to my boat-dock in the middle of the night.

I unplugged his cord then I pulled up his anchor and cut the rope. I pulled his power cord as close to my dock as possible and cut as much of his power cord off as I could, leaving me with the end of the power cord.

I shoved his boat off and he started drifting with the current. I told my husband to put a lock on our power panel.

My husband thought I was crazy but end the end we got rid of the thief stealing our electric.

Advice for You the Home Owner Who Pays for Electric

Never allow anyone to hook up to your electric. Whether they have a houseboat or motor home, camper or whatever.

It's easier to get rid of an unwelcome house guess than it is to get rid of someone who is hooked up on your outside power panel.

More Ways Thieves Can Steal Your Electric

What Thieves Can Do With Your Identity

Identity thieves can also still your electric or power leaving you with the bill and bad credit.

How to Tell If Your Neighbors Are Stealing Your Electricity

The safest way to tell if your electric is being stolen is to shut all the power off.
Turn off all the power in your house using the main disconnect beside your breaker box or fuse box. Then go outside and examine your electric meter. If all your power is turned off, the meter should stop moving. If it has not stopped, someone may have intercepted your electricity.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)