NOTICE TO ALL ETOWAH UTILITY CUSTOMERS

Theft of Service and Meter Tampering

Etowah Utilities shall have the right to refuse to render service or to disconnect service to an applicant or to any member of an applicant's household who is living at the same address whenever such person(s) is (are) delinquent on any payment to the utility or had his or her service discontinued because of a violation of the regulations or policies of the Etowah Utilities.

Tampering of any Etowah Utility equipment will result in immediate disconnection of service and the account will be accessed a $100.00 meter tampering fee per service.  If electric services are tampered you could be required to pay for replacement of meter and be subject to State of Tennessee electrical inspection before services are restored.  If tampered, all past due amounts and tampering fees must be paid before service is restored.

Theft of Service and Meter Tampering are listed in the Tennessee Codes Annotated as criminal and civil offenses.  The code in part is as follows:

 In accordance with Tennessee law, TCA § 65-35-102, it is unlawful for a person to:

 1.      Knowingly tap, cut, burn, break down, injure, destroy or otherwise interrupt or interfere with the current, lines, cables, poles, towers, fixtures or appliances utilized to furnish service to the general public by any telephone or telegraph company, or electric light or power company engaged in furnishing communication, light, heat or power by electricity.

 3.      Obtain or attempt to obtain by use of any fraudulent scheme, device, means or method, electric, sanitary sewer, water, or gas service, with intent to avoid payment of the lawful price, charge or toll therefore or for any person to cause another to avoid such payment for such service, or for any person to assist another in avoiding payment for electric, sanitary sewer, water, or gas service, either through the making of multiple applications for service at one (1) address, or otherwise.

 4.      Divert or use electrical power with the intent to defraud or deprive any public or private electric power supplier from receiving proper charges or payment for such electrical power.

 7.      Break, deface or cause to be broken or defaced any seal, locking device or other parts that make up a metering device for recording usage of telephone, gas, electricity, sanitary sewer service, or water or a security system for such recording device.

 8.      Remove a metering device for measuring quantities of telephone, gas, electricity, sanitary sewer service, or water.

 9.      Transfer from one (1) location to another a metering device for measuring utilities of telephone, gas, electricity, sanitary sewer service, or water.

 10.  Use a metering device belonging to the utility that has not been assigned to the location and installed by the utility.

 11.  Adjust the indicated consumption, jam the measuring device, bypass the meter or measuring device with a jumper so that it does not indicate use or registers incorrectly or otherwise obtain quantities of telephone, gas, electricity, sanitary sewer service, or water from the utility without same passing through a metering device for measuring quantities of consumption for billing.