Each day brings reminders that we are not that far off from the apocalyptic future envisioned by sci fi writers once the oil has run out. The Hour reports:

Steal electricity by bypassing your electric meter box — or some other deft maneuver — and you’re risking arrest or electrocution.

That’s the message being sent by the 3rd Taxing District Electric Co., which pressed charges against an East Norwalk man, who allegedly did just that — bypass his electric meter — at a Sycamore Street address earlier this month.

“The customer was turned off for credit issues. We went back later in the day to follow up. Our meter technician went out. He told me the power was on,” said George E. Leary, general manager for the 3rd Taxing District. Someone “bypassed the meter. This was done in a very eloquent fashion. They did it so it was not easy to discover. We called the police. (The suspect) went off in handcuffs. Theft of power is one likely charge, and meter tampering is another likely charge.”

On July 12, police arrested Troy Cichowicz, 41, of 1 Sycamore St., and charged him with theft of a utility service. Cichowicz was taken to police headquarters and later released on a $5,000 bond. He was scheduled to appear last week in Norwalk Superior Court, according to police spokesman Lt. Paul Resnick.
According to the police report, the 3rd Taxing District Electric Co. sent employee Joe Charriott to the Sycamore Street address to shut off electric service for non-payment reasons.

“(Charriott) then he noted that the lights and air conditioning were still running, so he second guessed himself — it’s a duplex, that he shut off the wrong service,” Resnick said. “He shut the other service off and the air conditioning and the lights were still on. So he investigated further and pulled the meter from the Cichociwz side of the duplex, and saw that the meter had been tampered with.”

“The panel was altered in a professional manner. The officer learned that Mr. Cichowicz is an electrician by trade,” Resnick said. “The officer called him on the phone and asked him to come home, and confronted him with the situation, and an arrest was made.”

David L. Brown, 3rd Taxing District Commission chairman, said he would find it hard to believe that such thefts haven’t occurred in the past.

source: The Hour,
Norwalk man accused of bypassing his electric meter, By ROBERT KOCH, July 23, 2007