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Using someones electrical outlet

11 years ago

I took a look at my electric meter today and noticed it was running very fast, I unplugged everything, and rechecked the meter, it was still running fast. Finally I went to the basement where I have one last plug in and noticed my neighbor was plugged in to me. He was powering his washing machine and his dryer. We unplugged it, we are thinking about reporting it, because we are low income and every extra spin of the wheel on my meter is more money I have to spend. I confronted him and he blew it off. If I report him what kind of trouble can he get into??

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Comments (2)

camlan
11 years ago
I'd let the landlord know immediately. Ask the landlord to do something, like a lock box, to protect your outlets in the common area so that this won't happen again.

In the meantime, if you have access to your circuit breaker box, you can flip the switch for that outlet so that no power gets to it. I had to do that one time and the neighbor never did figure out why his washer and dryer suddenly stopped working.

It's rotten that this guy stole from you, but I'm not sure there is anything you can do to get the money back--you'd have to prove he used your electricity and how much.
mike_kaiser_gw
11 years ago
Technically it's theft and is a crime. I would definitely report it to the landlord.
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