Dive Summary:
- Due to their energy-intensive lighting equipment, indoor marijuana grow operations are some of the biggest electricity thieves out there; one individual grower may steal $5,000 worth of electricity annually, but a network of growers can steal up to $400,000 worth of electricity in a year.
- Doug Bunker, VP of channels and alliances for Awesense, an energy theft sensor and software detection company, says, “Electricity is one of the biggest costs for a marijuana grow facility. Marijuana grow-ops have been the largest single industry for power theft.”
- To combat the problem of energy theft, Awesense has developed products that can "scrub [the] grid" for utilities by identifying precisely where electricity is being siphoned off.
From the article:
"... The growers tap into lines that are exposed to the air, or they dig to underground lines, or even tap off an existing panel box (pictured). A single grower might steal $5,000 of electricity a year, but an organized ring could steal as much as $400,000 of electricity per year. ..."
