ENERGY FRAUD … do I report ?

[bto35]

Hi. I’m really torn on this and not sure what to do if anything . Someone close to me has a business that uses a lot of gas and electricity of which with the rising costs are now thousands in debt .

They mentioned some time ago about knowing someone who could cap the gas meter for a fee . This would slow down the gas meter and produce a much lower bill but wouldn’t close it off completely.

the person close to me was previously paying about £550-600 a month in Gas and I’ve seen their last two direct debits have now dropped to under £100 a month for gas ( no way this is accurate ) they told me they didn’t get the gas capped because they couldn’t afford what they guy wanted paid to do it but it’s clear looking at the recent drop compared to the last 6 months that they have indeed done something to the gas .

Im annoyed because I too like all of us are paying a lot to even heat our homes and here is someone on purpose committing fraud and I believe it could be dangerous as this is a commercial business surrounded by flats above .

Do I report it or ignore it

Would they even take a report seriously ? Has anyone ever had to report for energy fraud ?

You seem to know an awful lot about someone else's finances

Thank you for clarifying, I was basing my post in this from a PP "A local business connected the gas supply of the business in the next unit to his supply to get free gas, he didn't do it correctly and a few staff got carbon monoxide poisoning, one of them seriously ill and hospitalised." but having re-read realise it's a different situation to the one in the OP.

Your gas bills and the fact you can’t afford baths are a separate issue.
Would you feel the same if this was happening in a property adjoining yours? People have died after the gas supply has been tampered with —- that is the only point you need to consider when reporting the matter.

I assumed this is their partner and business. Only way I assume they'd know the direct debit amounts make. OP if that is the case and you are in anyway connected my name of financially to this business then my last post applies to you too

This is what I'm thinking. I don't think I've ever shown anyone my bill because I can't think why I'd want to and I can't imagine anyone would be interested

I couldn’t care less about the money aspect but for the safety aspect alone, yes report them. As others have said, it’s really dangerous to go messing around with these things.

I’ve been a poor single mum years ago with payg meters and someone I knew (friend of a friend as they say) offered to “fix” them to cost me less. I refused, not from a moral standpoint, but because I had 2 DC and no way would I risk their safety to save money.

Thank god I don't live near there. Report it. They are CFs.

Tampering with energy supplies is illegal and dangerous as a pp unthread stated. Recently a 2 year old boy was killed because of the actions of the next door neighbour
Anyone who thinks this is acceptable needs to take a long hard look at themselves

Tbf the bills are not high “because of the companies”. Suppliers aren’t making any money and are going bust (it’s producers of electricity and gas which are not necessarily the same people). What your friend is doing is fraud and is stealing from the rest of us. It’s like shoplifting- it will increase prices for everyone else.

also they are likely to be found out if it’s such a dramatic change. It’s also dangerous paying a criminal to fiddle with your gas.

I'm another one who couldn't give a toss about the money or the energy company being cheated, they're raking it in and I doubt the CEO's are living in cold houses but I couldn't live with myself if people were hurt or killed because I debated whether I should report it. I am sorry for struggling businesses but endangering other people is not the way to go.

Report it.

If it's fraud, the gas company will deal with it.

Well I hope all of those fine with this don't live close to other businesses or households doing it.

So if you knew where this was, you'd still be fine with your children living above it, going in to the shop, walking past on their way to school?

If you knew you wouldn't change your behaviour and avoid it due to the risk of public safety?

You really wouldn't be bothered if your next door neighbour told you they had illegally diverted the gas supply?

I find that quite hard to believe. It's easy to say ignore and it's none of your business when it doesn't affect you.

For all any of us know we might walk past this business every day

This happened quite recently after someone tampered with their gas supply. Fortunately he ‘only’ seriously injured his neighbour and a number of his other neighbours lost their homes.

It's food outlet.
With gross income ~ 20k/month
that is ££thousands in debt: how many thousands? £10k? £999k? Is the debt growing? With this gas-stealing, are they on a trajectory to pay off the debt & become profitable?

They're somehow getting a free £400/month of gas.

let's face it OP: if you tell police, would the gas-stealer know it was you grassed them up?

Safety aspect not speaking to me but theft is annoying.

If it costs £1000 to get it capped, then by April (say cap started in October) the thief will have saved 2800 - 1000 - 700 = £1300. It's not even a huge savings if they have £144k annual turnover.

Wouldn't the gas company notice that huge fall in usage as winter started / compared to last year? They must have anti-theft teams & algorithms. Just tell the gas company anonymously.

(if any of this is real)

Waiting for this thread to be deleted then respawned with changed details & a starter bill of £4k/month.

Any interference with utilities is very dangerous.

I would for that reason only.

So well said.

That's me!

If they’ve interfered with the gas in some way, you should definitely report it for safety reasons. The money issue is way below that. Someone potentially shitting round with a gas supply is far more serious.

they have indeed done something to the gas

Report it.

No, I wouldn't. People are really struggling. The business top line may look healthy but you can't possibly know the reality of their circumstances. People can lose their livelihoods very quickly, they are frightened and are taking extreme and desperate measures. Some are going without baths, others going cold or hungry, others still resorting to fraud.
Instead of trying to make one person worse off, why not lobby your MP or join a campaign about the issue to try to make everyone better off?

Yes even if there was a very small chance it could be dangerous, as in this case. In this case, I consider a gas explosion unlikely and it is not OPs main concern.

Just because you consider an explosion to be 'unlikely' doesn't mean it can't happen. I'm sure the dickhead who caused the explosion that killed the little boy mentioned upthread thought it was 'unlikely'.