Spain has increased penalties for electricity theft linked to indoor cannabis cultivation after Endesa reported a record number of illegal power hookups. In 2025 alone, the company detected 72,700 cases of fraud: about 200 daily—and dismantled nearly 1,850 illegal indoor cannabis grows.
These numbers coincide with a significant legal change: starting this year, electricity fraud linked to cannabis cultivation may result in prison sentences of six to eighteen months under Organic Law 1/2026, which revises Spain’s Criminal Code for such offenses.
The move responds to a phenomenon that has been escalating and raising alarm bells across Spain for years: indoor grow operations powered through clandestine connections to the electrical grid, running around the clock and consuming enough energy to overload entire neighborhoods.
An Escalating Energy Crisis
According to Endesa’s May 4 report, electricity fraud detected by the company over the past five years amounts to the annual energy consumption of more than one million households, roughly equivalent to all the homes in cities like Barcelona and Seville combined.
Between 2021 and 2025 alone, Endesa’s subsidiary e-distribución closed more than 320,000 cases of electrical grid tampering, recovering over 3,750 GWh of stolen energy.
Cannabis cultivation is a major factor in this broader issue.
The energy company says indoor cannabis grows account for 26% of all recovered energy tied to detected fraud cases in recent years. In 2025 alone, authorities and the company dismantled roughly 1,850 illegal indoor cultivation sites, recovering 182.7 million kWh of stolen electricity.
According to Endesa, an average indoor grow consumes as much electricity as about 80 households. In areas with a high concentration of these operations, energy demand can overwhelm local electrical infrastructure entirely.
The issue is far from new. In 2024, Endesa had already warned that illegal hookups linked to cannabis cultivation were causing blackouts and fires in entire communities. In 2025, the conflict escalated further as the company …
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Author: Camila Berriex / High Times
