PINOS PUENTE (GRANADA), 18 (EUROPA PRESS)
A power transformation center has been burned down early this Friday in Pinos Puente, in the metropolitan area of Granada, as a result of the network overload caused by massive illegal connections for the cultivation of marijuana plantations.
This information was provided by sources from Endesa to Europa Press regarding events that occurred after the Civil Guard dismantled 16,594 marijuana plants in 23 houses in Pinos Puente in November 2024. This action had an immediate effect on this transformation center, «reducing incidents by 90 percent and eliminating the overload, reducing energy demand by 50 percent.»
The situation has recurred, causing the installation to become saturated and unable to withstand the overload from new massive connections, as these sources have pointed out.
Marijuana plantations require significantly more energy than a normal household consumption, as an ‘indoor’ plantation in an 80 square meter apartment can consume as much as a block of 80 houses. Additionally, the energy demand is required 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, leading to «even manipulating the transformation centers, posing a risk to people and technicians who have to replace damaged elements due to overload.»
The cause and effect of marijuana on distribution networks are intrinsically linked and affect not only the company and its employees but also and especially customers with active supply contracts. They face supply problems «not caused by lack of energy, but by excess fraudulent energy demand, and with manipulated installations that can pose a danger to people’s safety,» according to information provided by the utility company.
To address this situation, Endesa has stated that they are carrying out actions in the municipality of Pinos Puente to «strengthen the distribution network,» in a municipality where 35 percent of all supplies are illegal connections. The company has invested over 750,000 euros since 2020 to reinforce the medium and low voltage network in Pinos Puente, renovating three transformation centers with the latest technology and installing eight kilometers of low-voltage networks.
In 2025, Endesa is investing 450,000 euros, in addition to the previously mentioned 750,000, for the installation of two new transformation centers, one in the Las Flores neighborhood, already installed, and another in the San José neighborhood, pending approval from the City Council for construction permits.
These two transformation centers double the installed capacity and can serve around 1,600 new customers in an area without new housing developments or new industry. Therefore, this additional capacity is related to «fraudulent electricity consumption, largely from these marijuana plantations inside homes.»
The cost of this additional capacity, which is not necessary based on legal demand, as well as the amount of defrauded energy, «is paid by all electricity customers in the country on their monthly bill,» these sources have emphasized. Additionally, new low-voltage lines, about two kilometers long, are being laid to distribute the load of existing lines.
The company has assured that it is «always coordinated» with the City Council and the State Security Forces and Corps to assist in interventions to dismantle marijuana plantations. So far in 2025, Endesa has collaborated in ten operations with the Civil Guard, detecting over 375 illegal connections and more than 50 marijuana plantations.
The electrical fraud committed by a few seriously harms contracted customers, as it is carried out with inappropriate materials and without complying with any safety regulations. Illegally connected homes lack the basic protection systems that every home should have.
In areas with massive illegal connections, the only protection that would work is that of the Endesa networks, which are also sabotaged, thus eliminating safety for people and the environment.
Therefore, the company has also concluded that «it is very important to emphasize that electrical fraud entails very serious safety issues, both for those who manipulate the installations and those who may inadvertently access them, risking electrocution, as well as the installations themselves potentially catching fire.»
