Woman's shocking find in yard after noticing rising power bills

A woman has made a shocking discovery in her new rental property after noticing her power bills were much higher than they should’ve been.

Kate only moved into the home in the US state of North Carolina two months ago, and couldn’t work out why her electricity consumption was so high.

“I noticed our bill at this little tiny trailer we moved in to is the same electric bill I was getting at my last house that was running two AC units, double storey… didn’t make any sense,” she said on TikTok.

Kate said her landlord bought the house from a man who was terminally ill, and the man’s caregiver also thought the power bills were far too high, even back then.

But it wasn’t until Kate and her husband went away for a week that she was able to confirm that something was off. She had a house-sitter come to stay to look after her pets, and noticed the power usage was even higher than normal – despite there being less people in the house.

While they were away, the caregiver of the previous owner left a note at their door, claiming that the man next door was stealing their power – so Kate and her husband put the theory to the test.

They waited until nighttime and went outside and turned off their power.

“The second our power cuts off, he loses all power to his stuff,” Kate said. “The second we would shut our breaker back on, his power would kick right back on instantly.”

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Kate called the authorities and the landlord, who brought an electrician with her. The electrician couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but when a worker from the power company arrived and started looking around, they spotted the issue “within minutes” – a dodgy looking extra wire that was connected underneath her house.

Once safely disconnected, Kate followed the lead, which was buried under the lawn. Pulling it up, it took her across the yard and into a wooded area towards the neighbour’s house. When her husband arrived home from work, he pulled out the rest of the cord and snapped a photo of it bundled up on their yard.

She said while she was annoyed she had been paying for her neighbour’s power for two months, she was even more frustrated that the man had been taking advantage of the elderly former owner.

“It aggravates the crap out of me that an old man that is terminally ill that already had to give up this place because he couldn’t afford it, was being stolen from every single month,” Kate said.

She said the neighbour’s house has been dark ever since the cord was pulled out, and her landlord is now taking legal action against him.

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