More than 1,000 cases of illegal tampering with energy infrastructure—actions that endangered the safety of individuals and communities—were identified during the first eight months of this year across the 20 counties within Delgaz Grid’s operational area.

The majority of these incidents involved electricity theft, with the total number of cases identified by the company rising by approximately 16% compared to the same period last year.

In the counties of the Moldova region (Bacău, Iași, Neamț, Suceava, Botoșani, and Vaslui), over 550 individuals were found to have tampered with electrical systems to avoid recording actual consumption; meanwhile, nearly 450 other cases—primarily in Transylvania and Banat—involved unauthorized interference with natural gas installations.

In total, approximately 15 million kWh of energy was stolen during the first eight months of the year (comprising over 5.5 million kWh of natural gas and over 9 million kWh of electricity), resulting in financial losses exceeding 14.5 million lei. The volume of stolen energy is equivalent to the natural gas consumption of a medium-sized high school (250–300 students) over roughly six and a half years, or the electricity consumption of a large urban high school (500–600 students) over nearly 20 years.