I remember reading at least one case in the US where a home grow operation was discovered by the amount of power it was using, too -- the electric company noticed.
I saw a picture of a raid the other day in the area I live, where they found a growop because it was the only house in the row whose roof didn't have 10cm of snow on it. Quite a funny sight.
As part of my law degree I spend some time in courtrooms, just watching cases being heard, many of them about small time growers. Many people caught growing at home are punished twice: first through criminal law, and then through civil claims like from energy companies and banks or landlords. Very often these people have no other option then to start growing again, pushing them into a vicious circle. (They made the initial choice themselves, not spinning a sob story here - just saying that the stories behind these cases are quite interesting from a human interest point of view).
> Many people caught growing at home are punished twice: first through criminal law, and then through civil claims like from energy companies and banks or landlords.
Why would the energy company sue you if you paid your electricity bill? Same for landlords or banks, if you paid your rent, who cares?
On phone yesterday so I couldn't put all those details in.
Essentially yes if you pay your energy bill, there's no problem, but almost always the electricity is taken illegally (by bypassing the meter, or otherwise tampering with it) because otherwise the energy provider will notice straight away that your usage is abnormally high (this is the relation to the GP that prompted me to write this). Also, for a proper growup you need (much) more power than a residential supply line provides. The energy supplier then starts a civil procedure to get their money back, sometimes going after the landlord if that landlord could/should have known something was up (some case law includes that neighbors complained about abnormal heat in the house; the landlord should have followed up and is therefore liable for damages, as well as criminally (!) liable for aiding and abetting.
Land lords: they will cancel rental agreements the moment they find out you're growing weed, whether you pay rent or not. Banks will cancel mortgage agreements when a plantation is found. Furthermore, mayors can close a house for (IIRC) 6 months; meaning nobody can live there, but if the land lord doesn't cancel your rental agreement, you're still liable for the rent. Plus you have to live somewhere, because generally you won't be in jail that long. And if you have a family or live in your parent's house - let's just say that there are some heartbreaking cases arising from this.
(also, I should have specified probably, this is in the Netherlands. People think that NL is an anything goes area when it comes to marijuana, but it's really not - if you're caught with a sizeable (i.e., not just for personal use) grow op, you're royally fucked, especially if you don't have much money to begin with - which is generally why people do it at all, because it's not like you'll be a millionaire from stuffing your attic or basement with a couple dozen/hundreds of plants).
thats the worst part. i've seen lots of sketchy meter bypasses. and while it hides you for a while and makes the electricity cost disappear, its often a massive hazard. not just tapping off the initial drop (if you kind of know what you are doing, it can be ... not so bad?), but some of the wiring jobs i've seen defy belief.
There are many cases of this - but typically the ones I've seen reported have been easily distinguishable from any reasonable personal usage. Entire (rental) houses given over to dense growing in every available space. Having a few (or a dozen or 30) pots/pods/whathaveyou in your own home wouldn't look anything like it.
Heck, I remember cases where they've used thermal imaging from helicopter to identify such buildings.
I believe it's pretty common practice; not just the amount of power being used as a red flag, but obvious patterns too - for cannabis you normally have it going for 16+ hrs of light for it's vegetative cycle, then switch to 12 hr of light for flowering, so they can use that pattern too.
Presumably this stuff is only checked post-suspicion, and not automated and parallel construction stuff done.
As part of my law degree I spend some time in courtrooms, just watching cases being heard, many of them about small time growers. Many people caught growing at home are punished twice: first through criminal law, and then through civil claims like from energy companies and banks or landlords. Very often these people have no other option then to start growing again, pushing them into a vicious circle. (They made the initial choice themselves, not spinning a sob story here - just saying that the stories behind these cases are quite interesting from a human interest point of view).