Power Play

A Florida utility is shocked

Theirs was a flourishing business, with some 130 clients in the greater Miami area, including motels, restaurants, neighborhood groceries, a printing shop and luxury homes. Juan Maristany 38 and Eugenic Acosta, 49, made monthly service visits, according to police, and offered attractive discounts for client referrals. They charged $50 for the initial house call and up to $20 a month thereafter for visits. Commercial customers, however, paid as much as $400 a month. Their alleged business: turning back electricity meters to reduce utility bills.

Acosta and Maristany are now facing trial after a caper at a waterfront Coral Gables home. State agents watched while Maristany stood guard and Acosta opened the meter box on the outside of the house and turned back the dial. They were arrested when they went to the front door to receive payment for saving Real Estate Broker James Carbonell at least $180 on his monthly bill. Soon after, a utility representative handed Carbonell a $4,000 bill for six months of unpaid electric service.

Florida Power & Light Co., the state's largest electric utility (2.1 million customers) estimates that it lost $10 million in revenue during 1979 because of electricity thieves. Says a spokesman: "We check 100,000 meters a year and find at least 4,500 cases in which a meter has been tampered with." The company blames rising electricity rates, caused by the spiraling price of oil, for the crime boom.

Local police and utility companies are pursuing current diverters elsewhere in the land. The Edison Electric Institute a trade association for utilities, estimates that the industry is losing more than $400 million a year to meter cheaters. Says a Florida Power spokesman: "Paying customers are footing the bill."

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