Connecting illegally to gas and electricity is considered theft

Arbitrary connections to public electricity, heat, gas or water supply networks for commercial purposes is considered a crime of theft.  The law on the introduction of this norm was discussed today, 3 March, at the thirty-seventh plenary session of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

At this meeting, the senators proposed “Amendments and additions to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Code of Administrative Responsibility of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the strengthening of responsibility for the illegal use of energy resources.” 

“The inadequacy of measures of responsibility for the illegal use of energy resources specified in the current Criminal Code does not provide an opportunity to take appropriate measures against those who committed this crime and caused a large amount of damage to the state.  Therefore, it was specially noted that there is a need to strengthen the measures of responsibility for cases of illegal use of energy resources and non-compliance with the instructions of the competent authorities in this regard,” says Shukhrat Cholliyev, deputy chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Anti-corruption.

It is said that this law is significant in that it aims to eliminate the above problems and strengthen responsibility for illegal use of energy resources.

“Arbitrary connections to public electricity, heat, gas or water supply networks for commercial purposes or intentional damage to their metering devices and seals, as well as cases of committing these acts in collusion with officials or employees of utility organizations, are now it will be considered a crime of theft.

At the same time, the concept of “commercial purpose” is introduced into the Criminal Code, and it is determined that it is a purpose aimed at obtaining profit, income, and profit in certain activities of individuals and legal entities.

According to Senator Shukhrat Cholliyev, the preliminary investigation of cases related to the illegal use of energy resources by the prosecutor’s office is being carried out by the prosecutor’s office.

According to the information, in 2022 and the previous period of this year, the General Prosecutor’s Office initiated 433 criminal cases on violations of the rules for the use of electricity and natural gas.  As a result of these crimes, 368.1 billion soms of material damage was caused to the interests of the state.

In addition, 1,624 illegal connections to water supply networks were detected, and additional payments of 7 billion 144 million soms were collected from the violators.