:00:10. > :00:13.Hello from Gloucestershire. Tonight, a special programme focussing on
:00:14. > :00:34.energy. Inside Out investigates the growing problem of energy theft The
:00:35. > :00:38.cost of which is added to our bills. ?500 million worth of gas virtuosity
:00:39. > :00:46.are stolen across the industry a year. . Potentially ?30 a year on a
:00:47. > :00:49.customer's bill. Also tonight, we look at some innovative and
:00:50. > :01:13.perfectly legal ways cut your energy bill. In one year, I saved ?168 If
:01:14. > :01:17.I look at my bill, I think I am paying less than I was five years
:01:18. > :01:31.ago. I'm Alastair McKee and this is Inside Out West.
:01:32. > :01:36.As the row over energy prices gets ever more heated, a growing number
:01:37. > :01:42.of people are choosing to steal their gas and electricity. For some,
:01:43. > :01:45.it boils down to being cash`strapped and desperate, but there are others
:01:46. > :01:51.who are happy to cheat the system while living the high life. In this
:01:52. > :01:55.exclusive report for Inside Out Mark Jordan joins the enforcement
:01:56. > :02:07.teams as they hunt down the power thieves.
:02:08. > :02:21.Energy bills going sky high. Honest households pay up but ?30 a year of
:02:22. > :02:24.our bill is paying for stolen power. The meter has defiantly been
:02:25. > :02:47.interfered with. It has a fake seal in the top. Every year, people die
:02:48. > :02:51.from tampering from a metre. We would disconnect the meter is shut
:02:52. > :02:55.the supplier. This is the story of the power thieves and the people who
:02:56. > :02:59.track them down. The British Gas training academy in Leicester.
:03:00. > :03:07.Engineers learn how to spot tampering of gas and electric
:03:08. > :03:10.supply. It's never been more needed. Difficult economic climate equals
:03:11. > :03:14.more people are feeling this is the only way they can get their energy
:03:15. > :03:18.so the trend is upwards. This is a huge problem. We believe ?500
:03:19. > :03:26.million worth of energy is stolen each year. That's ?30 a year on
:03:27. > :03:33.customers' bills, money they shouldn't have to pay. For the next
:03:34. > :03:39.few days, I'm riding along with Piers and Malcolm, power theft
:03:40. > :03:44.investigators. The most bizarre case I've dealt with is a nursing home.
:03:45. > :03:54.When we caught the owner, it cost him ?25,000. The biggest bill I have
:03:55. > :03:58.had was 290 grand. But this morning's call is for much smaller
:03:59. > :04:02.fry. Well, the first three we have got are domestic. A routine meter
:04:03. > :04:06.reading on an East London estate has discovered a single mother of three
:04:07. > :04:10.tampering with her gas meter. There was what appears to be a cooker hose
:04:11. > :04:16.at the time that actually replaced the gas meter. Even with gas central
:04:17. > :04:25.heating, they only paid ?15 last year. How many live here? My mum,
:04:26. > :04:28.two sisters and myself. The meter's back but hasn't been installed
:04:29. > :04:36.correctly. Because the mother has children, she's considered
:04:37. > :04:41.vulnerable and can't be cut off Potentially this one will go to the
:04:42. > :04:44.police. We try to trace back who's doing this. We find trends where
:04:45. > :04:48.people go round estates and tamper with meters. These people will
:04:49. > :04:53.charge a range. We've heard from ?10`500 a time. They can do 10` 5 a
:04:54. > :04:57.day. They're not putting themselves at risk. If something happened
:04:58. > :05:00.there, it's all the adjoining properties and everyone in there
:05:01. > :05:05.that's going to be affected by a potential explosion. This was the
:05:06. > :05:09.scene that people on Dundas Road woke up to this morning. Whatever
:05:10. > :05:14.the cause, gas explosions can be deadly. A suspected gas explosion
:05:15. > :05:17.inside a terraced house. In Sheffield last year, this entire
:05:18. > :05:25.house was blown apart. Miraculously, no one died. It's a chilling
:05:26. > :05:28.reminder of the dangers of gas. The damage of that explosion was so
:05:29. > :05:32.great that authorities were never able to pinpoint the exact cause.
:05:33. > :05:33.Emergency services were worried about other dangers so they decided
:05:34. > :05:49.to conduct a test. The police were on site and the
:05:50. > :05:54.networks were on site and they asked us whether or not we felt it was
:05:55. > :05:57.right to look at some of the other supplies on the street and "yes .
:05:58. > :06:00.From 20 houses in a single terrace street, sure enough, we found five
:06:01. > :06:09.gas thefts and two electricity thefts. It's a great example of how
:06:10. > :06:20.and what the scale of the issue is. Little now shocks Mark. She showed
:06:21. > :06:22.me by getting a set of grips out and started to undo the