BarcelonaThe electricity fraud detected in Catalonia in 2025 is equivalent to the consumption of 144,000 homes, that is, to the electricity that a city the size of Sant Feliu de Llobregat would consume. This is data from the company Endesa, the main electricity distributor in Catalonia, which in 2025 detected 24,347 cases of electricity fraud on its Catalan electricity network, equivalent to 67 manipulations per day on average, one every three hours. It is a figure 7% higher than the previous year. In total, more than 486 GWh were defrauded.
In the set of territories in Spain where Endesa operates, the company detected 72,700 cases of electricity fraud last year, 1,700 more than in 2024, which represents an average of 8 cases per hour or nearly 200 cases per day. Between 2021 and 2025, the company closed more than 320,000 files for manipulations on its distribution network, which allowed the recovery of more than 3,750 GWh. This is equivalent to the annual consumption of more than one million homes, a figure comparable to the total number of homes existing in two of the main cities in the State: Barcelona and Seville, according to the company. Marijuana plantations and large consumers, from industries to businesses, concentrate the majority of defrauded energy in a context of increasing professionalization of fraud.
The proliferation of installations intended for cannabis cultivation generates continuous electrical problems for all neighbors, indicates Endesa. Reinforcing the electricity network with an increase in power does not solve the problem, as it is used to power new plantations. In some areas, the available electrical power is multiplied by five times the legally contracted power, but the fraud is of such a magnitude that it ends up saturating the installations.
Endesa uses the Girona neighborhood of Font de la Pólvora as an example, where on July 17, one of the transformation centers supplying it burned out due to overload, having to be completely demolished due to the structural damage it suffered. The new one that was installed – with more power – generated a “call effect” to the point that its consumption has multiplied by six. In other words, according to the company, six times more energy is consumed than what the meters read. On March 22, there was a fire (due to fraud) in a meter centralization on Avellaner street, in the same neighborhood. Even the SEM had to attend to several injured people. In the Font de la Pólvora neighborhood, out of a total of 615 supply points, 258 do not have a contract (that is, 41%), and they generate 71% of energy losses, Endesa assures. From 2024 to 2025, the absolute value of these losses has increased by 24%.The link between these plantations and the quality of the electrical service in certain areas is such that after raids carried out by security forces to dismantle indoor marijuana cultivation, electricity consumption plummets and incidents are reduced by 90%, indicates Endesa.The company complains that in addition to network incidents, the insecurity its workers suffer means they have to be accompanied by police forces and work with their faces covered to avoid being identified. In the last four years, employees of the company and collaborating companies working in the field have suffered a hundred cases of physical violence. Specifically, in 2025, 58 cases of assault were recorded while they were dismantling fraud, Endesa assures.
Artificial intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence and new technologies have become essential tools for combating fraud. The introduction of artificial intelligence has managed to double the success rate of anti-fraud inspections, the company assures. The digitization of the network, the deployment of sensors, and the implementation of smart meters enable the acquisition of more information, and the analysis of data using machine learning and deep learning techniques allows for the detection of deviations and abnormal behaviors.
Anonymous complaints are also an effective way to fight fraud, the company says. During 2025, citizen complaints led to 22,000 inspections, which allowed action to be taken on nearly 6,000 supplies with energy loss.