“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 34-year-career,” said Friedrich-Wilhelm Lach, chief executive of German utility company Ueberlandwerke Leinetal GmbH. “It’s incredibly dangerous and utterly stupid.” Normally I’d stick the quote in the article a bit deeper, but this one is a great lede. As for the incredibly dangerous and utterly stupid thing in question? Well, authorities say a 36-year-old German man from Sibbesse in Lower Saxony was stealing electricity via meat hook.
Apparently, the man took a meat hook on a rope and threw it over the transmission line to his house. He then drew power from that active line to his house using the meat hook as a conduit. He then ran his own electrical line to cover the 150 meters (or 492 feet) from the line to his house. Yeah, running your own jerry-rigged electrical line seems like a bad idea, especially from one of those really high voltage transmission lines.
The man got the idea after the utility company shut his power off for non-payment of bills, but do not try this at home. According to Mr. Lach, this idea “will kill you” if you try it. It does kind of seem like a great way to win a Darwin award.
Tags: Sibbesse, Germany, Lower Saxony, man steals electricity using a meat hook, stealing electricity, Ueberlandwerke Leinetal GmbH, Friedrich-Wilhelm Lach, dumb criminals, bad ideas