GROWERS PAY BACK HYDRO BILLS

Utility Recovers About $70,000 from Power-stealing Pot Growers

Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro Inc. is working to recover thousands in
lost revenue from marijuana growers stealing hydro for homegrow operations.
And it is paying off.

In the last year, the utility has backbilled for $140,000 in stolen
electricity from busted pot homegrowers, collecting just about half of the
amount.

"Our success rate is very nearly 50 per cent," said Barb Shortreed,
communications officer at Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro.

Shortreed estimated the average homegrow operation sucks between $3,000 to
$10,000 in stolen electricity, depending on the size of the crop and the
stage in development at which it is busted.

A single residence used to grow marijuana probably steals hydro worth about
$1,000 a month, used mainly for the huge lights and fans needed, she said.

Twenty-three homes have been raided in Cambridge in the last two years and
were modified for the illegal farming.

The utility estimates how much power was stolen by calculating the size and
age of the crop, and the energy demands of the bulbs, fans and
transformers, then bills the grower accordingly.

Few fight repayment, she said, probably because the courts look favourably
on an accused person's attempts at restitution.

"We try to be very diligent in our back-billing because it benefits the
community," Shortreed said.

Other times judges will order the hydro bill to be paid upon conviction.

To avoid detection, homegrow operators bypass hydro meters and tap into
underground lines using wires improperly connected and held together by
spray foam insulation to bypass meters.

Transforming a house into a grow operation is destructive and dangerous.
The home's wiring is usually altered. Wires from the underground line are
run through an opening in the house such as a basement window or hole
chopped through the foundation. Windows are usually blackened and the heavy
moisture needed for marijuana growing destroys plaster and wooden areas and
creates harmful bacterial deposits that can damage lungs, especially a child's.

If a home owner is found stealing electricity for a drug operation, the
power supply is turned off until the bill is paid, Shortreed said. Such
residences need to be safely rewired and reconnected to the power grid
safely, and inspected before the lights go on again.

However, such homes are rare, Shortreed said. Most homegrows are the work
of tenants.

In the past year police have raided about 70 marijuana houses in Waterloo
Region. Police estimate there are at least 200 more such houses in Waterloo
Region, stealing hydro for home-grown operations - representing millions in
stolen hydro.

The losses are mainly recovered by raising energy prices to all users.

"It's the same as shoplifting at Zellers," said Shortreed. "Everyone pays.
It (shoplifting losses) are worked into the overall cost of doing business."

Shortreed could not say how much local consumers are paying to cover losses
from homegrow operations, but North Waterloo-Wilmot Public Utilities
officials said pot operations have added about $3 to the average bill.