During the past week, unknown individuals managed to steal as much as 1,100 litres of transformer oil on six occasions from the pole-mounted transformer substations “Jugovine”, “Glavaca”, “Štitari”, “Lubnice”, “Praćevac” and “Bastahe” in the municipality of Berane.
At CEDIS, we are particularly concerned by the fact that this is the 91st time since August 2015 that we have suffered the consequences of theft of components from the distribution network. We are also concerned that the ongoing vandalism of facilities in Region 3 (Berane, Rožaje, Andrijevica, Plav, Petnjica, Gusinje) has not resulted in the perpetrators being identified and sanctioned.
Once again, we publicly emphasise that we are implementing all measures prescribed by law to protect our property and ensure that customers receive a reliable electricity supply.
This time, unknown individuals stole transformer oil on 9, 10 and 11 September, and on as many as three occasions on 12 September. The theft was detected in time, and the transformer substations were disconnected until the missing oil was replenished, thereby preventing more significant damage.
We emphasise that, in addition to the material damage suffered by CEDIS, our customers are left without electricity until the damage is repaired, which can often take up to 48 hours.
We therefore once again urge the competent authorities to take the necessary measures to finally put an end to this type of theft.
We remind the public that any unauthorised access to electricity facilities is extremely dangerous.
For negligible material gain, individuals risk their lives, disrupt the regular electricity supply and cause damage to the distribution system that far exceeds any potential profit.
Thieves most often target copper from transformers and lines, transformer oil, L-profiles from distribution network poles, as well as doors and windows at transformer substations.
