Rosseti Siberia in Krasnoyarsk: fight against miners and criminal negligence

Rosseti Siberia left the New Year celebrations in a far from festive mood – one of the first public statements of the energy company was devoted to mining. Or rather, about the “huge” losses that are inflicted by insidious crypto-miners to modest power engineers.

The press service of the company reported that mining farms in Siberia illegally consume electricity most actively in Krasnoyarsk, Omsk and Khakassia. These farms are based in garages, outbuildings, basements of residential buildings, where computer equipment plays the role of heating devices. The company complains that the difficulty of identifying unscrupulous miners lies in the fact that they are constantly changing energy connection points, transporting equipment from one place to another.

“The lower the tariff for individuals in the region, the more profitable it is for miners,” Rosseti Siberia says pointedly.

In particular, since the beginning of last year, 40 cryptocurrency miners have been identified in Khakassia, including two large ones, the amount of electricity theft from which exceeded six million rubles. Most often, such consumers connect as ordinary homeowners, so they pay at the rates of individuals.

In Omsk and Krasnoyarsk, miners often connect to networks without authorization. For example, in the first of these cities last year, the seized equipment had to be taken out by several KamAZ trucks. And in Krasnoyarsk, a mining farm operated on the 17th floor of a building under construction in Studgorodok under the guise of a local HOA and illegally consumed energy for 5.8 million rubles.

“Intervention in the work of the power system threatens with power surges, emergency shutdowns, not to mention the fact that violators endanger not only their lives, but also the lives of others,” Rosseti said with all responsibility.

However, in reality, the instructive tone of the energy giant smacks of banal hypocrisy. It is noteworthy that while the energy company is directly hinting at the need for the triumph of justice, diligently recalculating the damage received from mining farms, at the same time, Rosseti of Siberia themselves were the culprit on another occasion. And, apparently, this guilt is much higher and, most importantly, worse than the tricks of the miners.

The fact is that in the Krasnoyarsk Territory a criminal case was sent to court against the head of the Dzerzhinsk Electric Networks of PJSC Rosseti Siberia – Krasnoyarskenergo, who is accused of negligence. Thus, the official did not ensure the preparation of the power grid for the fire season: the facilities were not repaired, and measures to prevent technological violations were not carried out.

As a result, on May 7, 2022, a short circuit occurred in the power grid due to the contact of overhead lines with tree branches, and due to weather conditions, the fire spread and reached residential buildings in the village of Kuray and the village of Ashpatsk, Dzerzhinsky district.

As a result, the fire destroyed more than a hundred residential buildings and outbuildings. Two women also died. The damage from the actions of the official was estimated at almost 190 million rubles.

Currently, the materials of the criminal case under the article “Negligence” are under consideration in the Dzerzhinsky District Court. Babr is following developments.