Energy company sees loses due to electricity theft

Saturday's daily Pravo reports that there is a growing wave of a new type of crime in the Czech Republic: the theft of electricity. During the period of June 2005 to June 2006, the energy company CEZ registered over 3200 cases of illegal siphoning that equaled over 100 million crowns (over $4.4 million US) in loses. Despite the risks involved to human safety, a CEZ representative says that the number of cases of electricity theft is steadily increasing.