How to catch a neighbour stealing electricity ?

How could he of connected in without accessing your property?

 

Sos, if he's patched in before the supply reaches you, then it ain't costing you anything. He'd have to catch your supply after your meter before he could add to your bill.

But it's still not on - it's theft, pure and simple. If he's really doing it.

What's your concern - that you are paying extra for his power or chust that he's thieving?

But it sounds odd anyways. How do the power supplies come in to your terrace?

 

How many cottages in row, have they full height gable wall in attic.

Years ago, at a house I went to do a job, we found previous neighbour had lifted floorboards in bedroom, & removed several bricks in party wall & fished electric cable from the next house & spliced into it.

Only found it, after I had switched off electric to add some sockets & got a nasty suprise when I cut a 2.5mm cable which was still very live.

 

Also he might have bypassed his own meter, easy to do.

 

Easy, if there is enough slack.

In the attic it should be easy to spot a cable coming through a wall.

 

In which case make sure everything is turned off when you go out (but leave the CU main switch on), read the meter, and check again on your return.

 

Only 4"!

Time to have a nosey at your sockets I think.

 

You struggle to notice the usage on your meter I would think.
Compare bills this year with last year or earlier.

A energy monitor would show electric usage better I think,they show daily, weekly and monthly usage, some energy suppliers offer them free.

So, it would be easy to see any changes day to day.

 

Fridge and freezer will happily cope with being turned off for a day. The other items use so little power than I doubt it would show on your meter after a day's use.

 

Do you know a friendly sparky (is there such a thing...) who would 'Megger' your ring circuits one at a delicious time?

 

Got a spare fuseway in consumer unit, if so get a spark to fit a 20amp radial to a double socket,can then run a extension lead to fridge/freezer, you could switch off ring finals or remove them from terminals & megger them, making sure everything in you place is unplugged before doing so...

 

Another possibility is to buy an energy monitor like a Wattson or similar - I bet they are pretty cheap on t'Bay.

You simply clip a sensor over the phase cable that goes from your meter to your CU, and you'll have a constant readout of the Watts you are consuming.

Makes for fascinating reading

Any unexpected 'jump' would ring bells. Especially if it was a high-powered bell that was ringing.