Theft of electricity is the criminal practice of stealing
electrical power. It is a crime and is punishable by fines and/or
incarceration. It belongs to the
non-technical losses.
According to the annual
Emerging Markets Smart Grid: Outlook 2015 study by the Northeast Group, LLC, the world loses US$89.3 billion annually to electricity theft. The highest losses were in
India ($16.2 billion), followed by
Brazil ($10.5 billion) and
Russia ($5.1 billion).
[1]
President of Northeast Group
Ben Gardner stated : "India loses more money to theft than any other country in the world. The state of
Maharashtra—which includes
Mumbai—alone loses $2.8 billion per year, more than all but eight countries in the world. Nationally, total transmission and distribution losses approach 23% and some states' losses exceed 50%."
[2]