Between November 2024 and February 2025, DEDDIE’s specialized teams carried out large-scale inspections across Greece. As a result, 131 confirmed cases of electricity theft have been identified, involving unrecorded energy consumption exceeding 4.8 GWh—equivalent to the annual electricity use of thousands of households. An additional 153 cases are currently under investigation, with the total number of confirmed violations expected to increase significantly.
Alarmingly, some well-known business chains exhibited an electricity theft rate exceeding 50% of the supply points audited, suggesting a potentially systematic abuse of the system.
To prevent future violations, DEDDIE has begun replacing conventional electricity meters with smart meters that enable real-time monitoring and detection of irregular consumption. At the same time, stricter security protocols have been introduced for handling and storing meters to prevent tampering.
Greek law enforcement authorities have played a key role in supporting these inspections, ensuring that DEDDIE’s teams could carry out their work without interference. This collaboration is set to continue as part of an ongoing effort to eliminate electricity theft.
Electricity theft is a major challenge for Greece’s energy market, as it increases costs for law-abiding consumers and affects the stability of the power grid. Addressing this issue has become a top priority for DEDDIE, which has significantly ramped up its monitoring efforts.
The number of technical inspections has more than doubled, rising from an average of 20,500 per year (2019–2022) to 41,600 in 2024. Laboratory analyses of electricity meters have quadrupled, reaching 22,200 in 2024 compared to 5,300 in previous years. The financial impact of these efforts is substantial: the value of confirmed electricity thefts jumped from €30 million in 2023 to €62 million in 2024, while collections from offenders increased from an average of €16.4 million (2019–2022) to €27.1 million in 2024.
To combat electricity theft more effectively, DEDDIE is leveraging advanced data analytics and automation, optimizing its monitoring procedures, and expanding its team with specialized fraud detection units. Cutting-edge technology and smart grid systems are also being integrated to identify and prevent fraudulent activity more efficiently.
