POWER SUPPLY GOES TO POT

You could call it the great hashish heist - electricity suppliers are
losing millions of dollars to thieves who steal power to tend fertile
fields of marijuana.

Up to $120 million worth of power a year is siphoned off by thieves,
and many use it to hydroponically grow marijuana, according to the
Electricity Supply Association of Australia.

As always, it seems, it's the consumer (of the electricity, that is)
who must bear the burden, in the form of bigger power bills.

Stealing electricity is not a new activity, however. In the archives
of the now defunct State Electricity Commission there are prosecutions
in Victoria alone that date back to the 1930s.

But these days up to 20 per cent of electricity theft involves
marijuana growing.

"We get called after the police leave the premises," said David
Weston, chairman of the Australasian Utilities Revenue Protection
Association, the body charged with coordinating strategies to cut
electricity theft.

Mr Weston said power stolen for marijuana was the fastest-growing
reason for power theft.

In Victoria it could mean a maximum $10,000 fine and/or two years'
jail, he said.