With the soaring price of electricity, more and more users are tampering with their Linky meter to lower their bill. An illegal practice that worries Enedis and which can be very costly!
Electricity prices have been rising at a dizzying speed in recent years, registering an increase of more than 25% in 2023! Even if this increase begins to slow down, we are all still very worried about our electricity bills, which are proving to be hefty.
Obviously, while wallets are being put to the test, everyone is looking to save money. While this usually involves small everyday actions, some may be tempted to opt for the illegal route. To do this, the Linky meter – the smart electricity meter from Enedis, the electricity distribution network manager in France, which transmits and receives data remotely – is the focus of all attention. And some users are ready to do anything to reduce their electricity bill.
Enedis had already sounded the alarm at the beginning of the year, but the number of frauds on Linky meters continues to increase. At the beginning of April, the electricity network manager had already recorded more than 1,000 cases of serious fraud. Since then, it has recorded several thousand cases.
The process is well-known: install an electrical bypass in the device in order to distort your electricity consumption – up to 75%! –, making it much lower than it should be. And it’s much easier than you think! People don’t hesitate to sell their services to carry out the operation, or even offer training for a few hundred euros. For a few months now, accounts specializing in the illegal modification of Linkys have flourished on social networks such as Snapchat or Telegram.
Worse still, it is possible to find tutorials on social networks to set up a bypass system. All you need is insulated gloves and a screwdriver to carry out the operation. Once the manipulation is complete, Enedis is no longer able to consult the electricity consumption of the home. But the electricity network manager warns: this type of practice represents “an additional financial cost for all customers”.
Let’s be clear: don’t get involved in this kind of adventure, because it could cost you dearly! Tampering with a Linky meter is both dangerous and completely illegal! This kind of intervention on a power line is a delicate operation, reserved for specialized technicians, which exposes you to risks of electrocution, and even fire. And you could have big problems with the law.
Because falsifying electricity meters constitutes a violation of Enedis’ property rights, while misappropriation of energy is considered theft or even fraud. Also, such practices are punishable by heavy criminal penalties of up to one million euros in fines and ten years of imprisonment.
And you can be sure that Enedis will know if you commit fraud! As these frauds are becoming more and more common, the company has implemented control processes. In April, Éric Salomon, the director of Enedis, recalled that “Linky is extremely sophisticated” and that the system would have “several dozen automatic alarms”. If the meter is modified in any way, the manager will know in real time. Some 250 AI-assisted agents analyze consumption trends in search of scams. In short, don’t try this game, you risk big!