Some years ago a bought a flat with an underground garage directly below. It had underfloor electric heating and electrical devices such as automated curtains, and the garage had some large switches for a workbench. The electricity bills could be quite high but they were also very variable, some quarters I seemed to use very little. One day I turned off the main switch to do some minor work, but I noticed that an indicator light showed the immersion heater was still working.
After some hard thinking I figured out what the situation was and asked the Board to inspect the system. An electrics man and a detective turned up and checked out the meter, then suggested I was wasting their time as everything appeared OK. So I took them down to the garage, removed some panelling to reveal the situation. The incoming main ran across the corner of the garage and had been tapped and connected to the large switches, from where the connection was made to the flat meter. The effect was that the meter could be by-passed depending on the setting of the switches. It turned out that the insulation tape was a type used by the Electricity Board, and there were some serious consequences for an employee.
On my side it was repaired for free, but I did make a small donation to a charity.
I'm relating this simply as an interesting and unusual story, but of course it was a totally illegal and highly dangerous situation.
After some hard thinking I figured out what the situation was and asked the Board to inspect the system. An electrics man and a detective turned up and checked out the meter, then suggested I was wasting their time as everything appeared OK. So I took them down to the garage, removed some panelling to reveal the situation. The incoming main ran across the corner of the garage and had been tapped and connected to the large switches, from where the connection was made to the flat meter. The effect was that the meter could be by-passed depending on the setting of the switches. It turned out that the insulation tape was a type used by the Electricity Board, and there were some serious consequences for an employee.
On my side it was repaired for free, but I did make a small donation to a charity.
I'm relating this simply as an interesting and unusual story, but of course it was a totally illegal and highly dangerous situation.