La Costa Man Fights Claim of Electric Theft

A La Costa man who for six years allegedly had part of his three-story, 5,000-square-foot house that overlooks a golf course wired to bypass a San Diego Gas & Electric meter is facing the prospect of having to pay $133,000 in damages to the power company.

That’s how much SDG&E; is seeking in a lawsuit it has filed in Superior Court, making it the second-largest energy-theft case ever pursued by the utility.

No hearing date on the suit--which was filed in January--has been set, but Williams, who contests the allegations, has asked for a hearing before the Public Utilities Commission. That hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in San Diego.

“I deny all their allegations,” Williams said Thursday. “There’s a question about all this, about whether it’s true or not. Am I the one who had the wire put in or was it someone else? I can’t answer that right now because it’s part of . . . my strategy for the hearing.”

Williams even implied that SDG&E; may have inadvertently bypassed the meter when it hooked up his house to electricity.

The case against the 53-year-old Williams--who calls himself a retired investor--began in January, 1986, when he called the power company to complain about his house lights going on and off erratically.

“The guy came at night . . . and said, ‘Hey, you got an extra wire there,’ ” Williams said.

According to Darryl Murry, SDG&E; meter revenue protection supervisor, the company obtained search warrants and descended on Williams’ home--which overlooks the La Costa Country Club golf course--a few months later.

“Investigators found what appeared to be an elaborate system in which energy had been stolen to serve the home’s ground- and lower-level bedrooms, bathrooms, garage, spa, sauna and steam room,” Murry said in a prepared statement. “Several chandeliers, bar lamps, floodlights, heaters, a Jacuzzi and steam bath were among the appliances being served.”

Bill Disputed

SDG&E; then billed Williams, who was listed as the owner-builder of the home when it was constructed in 1980, about $10,000 for using unmetered electricity from 1980 to 1986.

Williams disputed the amount and requested a PUC review. But the PUC, in an informal staff opinion, upheld the bill.

In what Williams says was a plea-bargaining arrangement he entered into to avoid paying $10,000 in lawyer’s fees, he pleaded guilty in Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace, rather than to the charge of energy theft. He also promised to pay restitution to SDG&E.;

However, Williams reneged, according to Murry, and instead sought a formal PUC review of the disputed bill, which is the subject of Wednesday’s hearing.

“Because of the circumstances in this case and the time and expense involved in accommodating Mr. Williams, SDG&E; is now seeking triple damages on behalf of its ratepayers,” Murry said, who estimated that the utility loses more than $13 million a year to energy thieves.

“If you add up all the triple damages and the punitive damages, it comes out to $133,000,” said Williams, who says he is now acting as own attorney in the matter. “They’re accusing me of stealing, but I didn’t steal anything.”