© Enedis
Manipulate your Linky meter to reduce your electricity bill by 70%. The idea is tempting for many French people at a time when their purchasing power is sometimes shrinking. But these interventions can prove dangerous for the security of your home, and you are very likely to be caught by the patrol.
This is the message that Éric Salomon, customer director at Enedis, during an interview given to Le Parisien. The manager confirms the existence of this phenomenon and specifies that it is prohibited for users to open the cover of Linky.
Quoted by our colleagues, he explains thus that practicing a bypass technique on your meter risks causing fires: “And in a building (the most suitable place for this practice, because fraud is less detectable in high-density areas), this also constitutes a danger to the lives of others. It remains prohibited to open the cover of the Linky”.
He adds as a warning to potential fraudsters that their manipulation will be visible in real time:
Any attempt at fraud is detected thanks to the thousands of sworn controllers in the field and the 250 agents who work in front of their computer thanks to alerts and artificial intelligence. We therefore detect fraud much better today than before.
The aftermath may prove bitter for the customers concerned. Indeed, if cheating is proven, justice will then be taken and a reimbursement of unpaid electricity will be demanded. If the fraud lasted a long time, the bill may be hefty. In the event of criminal prosecution, customers also face large fines ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 euros.
As a reminder, last December we mentioned this case where two men were prosecuted for “ organized gang fraud”. They approached customers, then installed a bypass system in order to artificially reduce the electricity consumption recorded by the Linky meter in exchange for sums of between 1000 and 2500 euros.
According to the public prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, these are not isolated cases, but rather a phenomenon in full expansion throughout France where tens of thousands of Linky meters would benefit from this stratagem that generates a “additional financial cost for all customers”. You can always reread our article to find out more here.
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