UTILITIES PLAY HARDBALL OVER METER BYPASSES

Many People Bypassing Hydro Meter Involved in Marijuana Growing Operations: Cop

Markham Hydro has recovered more than $1 million in the past year from
people who stole power by illegally bypassing hydro meters. The money
recovered resulted from people paying for the stolen power to have their
hydro restored.

But Markham Hydro metering supervisor Rick Lapp said the utility was owed
$1.7 million. Until the remaining $500,000 is paid, some of the homes are
still without hydro.

"But we'll never recover all we've lost," Mr. Lapp said. "Our calculations
for all of Markham indicate there could be over 400 sites with a bypass."

Det. Mike Klimm of the York Regional Police drug squad said yesterday the
Markham utility turned off power to 163 houses where illegal bypasses were
discovered. He said many of the bypasses were done by people involved in
indoor marijuana-growing operations.

Mr. Lapp said some of the bypasses were confirmed by accompanying police on
raids of suspected growing operations, but said the majority resulted from
Markham Hydro's own investigation of suspected power thefts.

"We don't care what (people) are doing inside the house," he said.

"Prior to 2002, we were in a reactive mode, cutting power at the police
request. We've been very pro-active in 2002."

Hydro Vaughan, which has been running a smaller project, has a different
take on the problem.

"It's becoming a concern," Pat Guran, an engineer with the utility, said of
the marijuana grow houses. "Like the police, we don't like to see it in our
neighbourhoods."

Mr. Guran said more than 30 homes have had hydro cut off because of power
diversion, but the utility is seeing results, with hundreds of thousands of
dollars recovered.

He said not all power theft is related to pot growing and said pot houses
are now not bothering to bypass the meter.

Det. Klimm said illegal bypasses are not only dangerous to the public, they
exacerbate the problem of rising hydro rates in Ontario. However, he said,
all hydro utilities in York Region have recovered some lost revenue, though
not to the same extent.

With police blessing, the utilities have been cutting power since February
to homes in Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora and Newmarket, where
users have bypassed hydro meters.

Det. Klimm estimated earlier this year there were 3,000 indoor marijuana
operations in the region, most using huge amounts of electricity to power
banks of 1,000-watt bulbs, heating and exhaust systems, fans and, in some
cases, highly sophisticated, automatic self-watering and fertilizing systems.

"At up to $2,000 a month for each house, that's $72 million in power
stolen," he said.

While the utilities approach the issue from the perspective of diverted
power and safety concerns, including the potential for electrocutions and
house fires, Det. Klimm makes no bones about seeing it as another way to
put the indoor marijuana operations out of business by killing young plants
before they are ready to be harvested.

"It averages $30,000 to set up one of these operations," he said.

"If the plants die before they make money, then it's a bad investment."

Markham Hydro doesn't cut off power to customers who have fallen behind in
payments.

The utility has a policy of providing limited power in the winter months,
enough to keep the furnace running and the stove operating. In the case of
diversions, however, the power is cut off completely.