During 9 months of 2015, inspectors of Electricity Balances and Metering Groups of Penzaenergo, a branch of IDGC of Volga, PJSC (a member of Rosseti Group of Companies), reported 2,503 occurrences of unaccounted power consumption accounting to 8,735.4 thousand kWh. 471 reports were filed against legal entities, and 2,032 reports – against individual consumers. Damages caused by illegal electricity usage are estimated at 14.2 million rubles (this amount includes just the cost of electricity transmission services). By the moment, this damage has been compensated in full. Money returned will be allocated for improved reliability and quality of power supply for electricity consumers in the Penza region. According to employees of Service Sales and Electricity Accounting Directorate of Penzaenergo, illegal electricity usage and amounts of stolen electricity continue to grow in 2015. Hence, inspectors of Electricity Balances and Metering Groups of Penzaenergo focus their efforts on prevention and suppression of illegal use of electricity. They also use their best endeavors to make detection of electricity theft more efficient. Thus, during 9 months of the current year, specialists of Service Sales and Electricity Accounting Directorate, in collaboration with the Security Department staff and representatives of law enforcement agencies carried out a series of raids/inspections to detect and prevent cases of electricity theft. Results showed that most electrical theft crimes still occur through meter tampering, or bypassing meters to avoid recording electricity usage, and tapping, or hooking up a power line. Penzaenergo specialists notify that power theft carries deadly risks, and many thieves pay for the power they steal with their lives. Electricity theft is not just dangerous for those who steal, but for the community in general. If you are on the same power line as someone who steals electricity, you could pay the cost for their theft too. Electricity theft may cause short-circuit failures with resulting fires, or the power line could become overloaded with electric energy, which could harm your electronics and appliances that are designed to receive a certain, steady amount of electricity. Once again, power sector specialists remind that unauthorized electricity consumption is a punishable offence, and an offender can be prosecuted under applicable criminal law.