{"id":254860,"date":"2025-10-21T08:06:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=254860"},"modified":"2025-10-21T08:06:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:06:57","slug":"government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Probes Supermarkets for Allegedly Bypassing Electricity Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is moving to investigate reports that several large supermarkets may have been tampering with their electricity supply to evade full payment for power.<\/p>

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Minister of Public Utilities Melford Nicholas told Cabinet that his ministry received credible information indicating that some commercial entities have allegedly installed illegal bypass systems to draw electricity directly from the national grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicholas described the alleged practice as a serious fraud against the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) and, by extension, the people of Antigua and Barbuda.<\/p>

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne warned that offenders will face legal consequences.
\u201cIf they get caught twice, police will have to be called in,\u201d Browne said.<\/p>

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\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is moving to investigate reports that several large supermarkets may have been tampering with their electricity supply to evade full payment for power. Minister of Public Utilities Melford Nicholas told Cabinet that his ministry received credible information indicating that some commercial entities have allegedly installed illegal bypass systems to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment Probes Supermarkets for Allegedly Bypassing Electricity Meters - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government Probes Supermarkets for Allegedly Bypassing Electricity Meters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is moving to investigate reports that several large supermarkets may have been tampering with their electricity supply to evade full payment for power. Minister of Public Utilities Melford Nicholas told Cabinet that his ministry received credible information indicating that some commercial entities have allegedly installed illegal bypass systems to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T12:06:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T12:06:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:640\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-16-at-8.50.56-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Government Probes Supermarkets for Allegedly Bypassing Electricity Meters\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-21T12:06:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-21T12:06:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\"},\"wordCount\":120,\"commentCount\":19,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:480\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-16-at-8.50.56-PM-e1718192015271.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-probes-supermarkets-for-allegedly-bypassing-electricity-meters\/\",\"name\":\"Government Probes Supermarkets for Allegedly Bypassing Electricity Meters - 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