Pet cat is cleared of running up huge electricity bill by Russian judge 

Pet cat is cleared of running up huge electricity bill by Russian judge

  • A cat called Vasya was accused by its owners of breaking their electrical meter
  • The cat, from Barnaul, Siberia, was said to have spent time near the equipment 
  • According to an electrical engineer the cat would not have been able to break it
  • Its owners were ordered to pay off £900 in outstanding debt and legal fees

A court in the Siberian city of Barnaul has cleared a cat of wrongdoing after its owners accused it of running up their electricity bill.

Vasya the cat, short for Vasily, was accused at tearing open a seal on an electricity meter in the attic of its owners’ house in Barnaul, eastern Russia and causing them to incur bills of over £900. 

But after a lengthy trial in which representatives of the utilities company was able to prove Vasya’s owners were at fault as the feline could not have broken the seal.

The cat was accused by its owners of breaking the seal on an electricity meter on one of its trips to the attic [file photo]

‘As part of the court case, the private homeowners explained that their cat likes to walk in the attic, in dangerous proximity to an electric meter that they eventually decided to move,’ the BGES utility company said in a statement.

‘However, they said they were too late. The cat ended up ripping the seal from the meter during his latest raid of the rooftop.’ 

The case hinged on the testimony of one of the electricity company’s electricians, Sergei Platonyuk, who said the cat would not have been able to break the seal.

‘It is impossible to accidentally rip a seal off the counter,’ Platonyuk said.

According to one of the company's electrical engineers the cat would not have been able to break the seal on the meter [file photo]

According to one of the company’s electrical engineers the cat would not have been able to break the seal on the meter [file photo]

‘The device is close enough to the meter and the wire is so strong that the electricians themselves use cutting pliers to break the counters.

‘Therefore, even if the cat had hung on the seal, clinging to it with a claw, it would have survived. ‘  

The Barnaul judge sided with the utility company and absolved the cat, informing the homeowners that they are responsible for the seal’s safety by law.

BGES said the debtors did not appeal the ruling to pay off 80,500 rubles (£900) in outstanding debt and legal fees.   

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