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Motor tampering By Pete Cudloa Clarke said it's the meter Most major 'cities and readers who've been finding rural areas suffer from the tampered meters. He hydro theft; it sometimes is added that the readers are done out of ignorance, but Ontario Hydro's first line of other times done for profit. defense. At the recent Grand Val- ley Municipal Electric As- sociation annual convention held at Branch 272 of the Royal Canadian Legion, He- speler, Roy f larke, regional security o' Jer for Ontario Hydro sai that during a re- cent check in the Guelph area there were over 100 tampered meters during a one-month period. str neft of electricity by meter tampering isn't new, it's out there and I've been dealing with it for years," said Clarke. _ "The people who were dis- covered tampering with their meters were sent a po- lite letter, explaining that the meter seal ring is pro- perty of Ontario Hydro and that it's an offence to tamper with them". Waterloo problem He said after these letters went out to these meter tamperers, hydro theft went doien considerably. Gerry Knorr, manager of North Waterloo Hydro, said meter tampering is not a serious problem in Wa- terloo. Mr. Knorr described meter tampering as "dis- mantling" or "trying to get into the workings of a meter." Only two recent cases of this practice have been discovered in the past two months, and they were the first documented cases in the company's history, However, criminal charges have not been laid. The of- business venture. The company, to be known as Mutual Cre- dit of Canada Ltd., will introduce to Canada a barter system of commerce on a large scale, and will have its head office in Waterloo. (Continued from page 1) A contract between the parent american company and Ald. Turnbull was signed last week. The anticipated terri- tory had previously been Ontario; however the company now plans to operate across the entire country - a decision which made Ald. Turnbull's serving on local council virtual- ly impossible Looking back over the l3 years of service as a planning employee and city alderman. Ald. Turnbull commented that much has changed since 1965. but "the thing that has not changed is the flavor of the city and the flavor of city hall." Although leaving municipal council, he will continue to re- side and operate his consulting business in the city Two issues he faced as a regional councillor were the policy decision on the West Montrose dam and the regional government review “The regional review was the big thing" he said “In issues like the Montrose dam. I got a kick out of seeing the strong opinions on both sides and try- ing to come up With a sensible conclusion to Waterloo Mayor Marjorie Carroll said that m the very short future "we will be much more appropriately honoring Brian; By his own admission, it will be about five years before. the present business Involvement will enable Aldn'urnbull to return to local politics There is no doubt he will be sorely missed. Alderman retires from politics Rising rates prompt increase in meter tapping Thefts mtst Ontario Hydro millions In Toronto, meter tam- pering has cost an estimated billion dollar loss in elec- trical dollars. . He said many of the tamperers cut the meter seal, reset their meters, than hook up the broken seal to make it look as if it was never tampered with. . He said that in 1976 in Montreal, there were ac- tually schools teaching wel- fare recipients how to steal electricity by" adjusting their hydro meters. "Many of the meter readers would just record the meter readings, then leave, but we now have a program where the meter reader gives a tug on the meter seal to make sure it isn't broken." “In Ontario there are 2.7 million potential electricity- stealing customers." fenders were charged for damage to the meter and for the estimated lost consump- tion. ' f _ But Mr. Knorr said the most common problem is people "tapping wires into an unmetered position." He said in the past ten years, al- tering meter readings oe- curred "very, very sel- dom." Now that hydro costs have gone up, there are "many, many instances of people doing things" to de- crease their bills. Mr. Knorr said that in the Clarke mentioned a few incidences about hydro theft in other parts of the provin- ce, using the example of people by passing their meters, changing the meter readings and some going as far as to rip their meters off the wall and throwing it away. He mentioned that some- times people'would hook up washers or dryers and not realize they had by passed their meter. “These cases, we advise them tn redo their wiring or get an electrical contractor to do it right. “In cases where people deliberately rip off hydro, it is very hard to prove it in a provincial court. We almost have to see them do it or have somebody say that they say this person is tam- pering with the meter." He said judges in the past have been very reluctant to lay charges on these of- fenders, but Ontario Hydro gives these people a verbal warning. past the company has not been insistent to "get in to read a meter." This is changing. The company has adopted a new policy where they will accept only three estimated readings by phone from homeowners, then send readers to check the meters "every couple of months." Last summer every meter in Waterloo was resealed. Where there were lead seals that could easily be broken, now the workings are sealed with a padlock-type device with brightly-colored tags. Meter readers will pull on the tag to determine whether it has been broken, but even then, detecting wire tapping is difficult. "We never really can be sure how many are delibera- te or how many are acciden- tal," Mr. Knorr said. "Irs difficult to prove" Last summer North Wa- terloo Hydro hired a student to detect false meter read- ings. He found that a great number of appliances in some Waterloo homes showed no readings on meters. There were 34 water heaters, three dryers, one electric stove, one swimming-pool pump, two electric heaters, one oil fur- nace. and eight unidentified circuits that did not register on the meter. Mr. Knorr said the lost revenue from these items is estimated at $4,000 a year. Still. Mr. Knorr said “you couldn't say there was any theft of power," He said these homeowners were sent letters telling them the electricity was not going through their meter and they were informed their hydro bill would increase. based on the estimate of lost power. But, if and when tap- ping the wires on a hydro meter can be proven with- out a doubt, the offender is liable for a fine of up to $500 In thie meantime, Ontario Like most householders. the University of Waterloo is finding that even though its energy consumption is going down the cost of en- ergy Keeps going up. In a recent study prepared by the universities of On- tario, the University of Wa- terloo reported that total en- ergy use was down 6.8 per cent in 1977-78 compared with theVear before. But the cost was up by 12.5 per cent and in dollar terms it passed the two million mark for the first time. This is in spite of energy con- sumption reductions totally 22.8 per cent per square foot in the past five years. UW measures energy by "equivalent kilowatt-hours per square foot", a term that combines the use of na- Hydro M8 come out qrith The seals are made of new hydro seals which will plastic and are color ended. culdowu on the hydro theft If anyone tamper: with the in the province. seal it would be noticed Chris is an " year old with an interest in graphic arts, swimming and cross-country skiing. Energy use down but cost up at UW ia-tooo-tart-tr-Vest-ttum'""-.?: tural gas, heating oil and electricity. The cost has doubled in five years. _ _ Total energy spending was $1,026,399 in 1972-73. It was up to $i,908,903 by 1976- 77 and reached $2,147,920 in 1977-78. But the total energy use in equivalent kilowatt-hours (EKWH) was reduced in the same period from 187.3 mil- lions in 72-73 to 174.4 mil- lions in 76-77 and to 162.5 millions in 77-78. Since the total space at UW increased slightly in the five year period, the reduc- tion on a square foot basis is even better-from 52.6 EKWH in 72-73 to 40.6 EKWH last year. Electricity' accounted for 57 per cent of the .energy spending; electricity con- Wednesday Girl Al Johnson 's This will hopefully cut- down on hydro theft. right twiy by the meter The rest of-the energy money went for natural gas and oil, with gas making up a larger share of the heating expense this year than last. Consumption of oil dropped by 42 per cent land the oil bill went down by more than a third) while gasconsump- tion dropped just 2 per cent land the bill went up by 14 per cent). sumption was down by 5 per cent this year Ibut the hydro bill went up by 17 pet cent on account of higher prices). it cost almost 54 cents per square foot of campus buil- dings last year to heat or cool the air, light classrooms and operate equipment. -Irfig72-73, the cost was 29 cents per square foot.