Yes, it’s probably illegal but it’s also bloody effective.

If I were thinking of doing something like this (which, I reiterate, is illegal, certainly by my reading of the Electricity Supply Act – see below) I certainly wouldn’t issue a warning.  

It is also in breach of Section 116 of the strata Act although, in my book, when individuals decide that the rules don’t apply to them, they don’t get to choose which rules do apply to everyone else.

So, if you were to pursue this legally highly dubious path, make it unofficial. Don’t minute anything or discuss this in any way that would leave a paper trail. Don’t forget, an Owners Corporation is subject to many of the same laws as other corporations and, in this case, officially sanctioned illegal action  could lead to a maximum fine of $400,000 (a penalty point being $100). 

So if you were determined to go down this highly ill-advised route, the way to proceed would be to quietly decide how you are going to get access and who is going to carry out this evil plan. Then, if a party gets out of hand, person or persons unknown can flip the switch, lock the utility cupboard door, and go back to bed.  

Who’s to know that the combination of a stereo system, lights, phone chargers and spillage didn’t overload the system and trigger the emergency isolation trip switch?

Sniff, sniff.  Can you smell smoke coming from the power cupboard? Did you know the Act allows us to cut off electricity in the event of an emergency? 

Now that the extreme fire risk from an overloaded power board has been dealt with, let party boy call an electrician (about $1000 in the early hours of a Sunday morning) to get access to the fuse box. By the way, most electricians carry a pass key that gives them access to power cupboards in apartment buildings.

The belt and braces approach, just in case Party Boy gets in right away and switches the juice back on, would be to flip the switch and cut the fuse wire, but that is dangerous and should never be done except by a qualified electrician. Or at all.

In fact, none of this should never be done by anyone, ever (although I know of several building managers who find the mysterious loss of power to party pads solves a lot more problems than it creates).  And if you were thinking of breaking the law in this way, I certainly wouldn’t be informing your victim beforehand.

65 Interference with electricity works

(1) A person must not interfere with a network operator’s or retailer’s electricity works unless authorised to do so by the network operator or retailer concerned.

Maximum penalty:

(a) in the case of a corporation-4,000 penalty units, or (b) in any other case-200 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years (or both). b) An offence under this section that is committed by an individual is an indictable offence.

@Austman said:
I’d still like to know what law(s) would apply.

If one of our residents did turn the power off to another resident (and I’d hope they never would) , could and would the police take any action or would they see it as a domestic civil matter and leave it to the OC to solve? 

Firstly, as we live in the age of the too-hard basket, I am 99 percent sure the police would do nothing (nor should they).

An awful lot of strata law is “untested” in higher courts so anyone who embarked on litigation would be entering unknown territory.

First the party person would have to show the power was turned off deliberately (easily done when the emergency electrician turns up and charges them triple time – about $1,000 – for the callout).

Then they would have to prove who did it.  The building manager (who may have a key)?  A strata committee member (who probably doesn’t)?  A resident professional electrician? They apparently carry a master key that opens all power board rooms.

If they could prove it was the committee who either did it or told someone to do it, they might have a case for compensation on the bill from the emergency call-out.  But if everyone involved said nothing, I can’t see that getting very far.

You can buy lock-picking equipment on the internet and watch Youtube clips on how to use it, so it could be anybody in the building. And let’s not forget who the real victims are here.

It’s probable that someone, somewhere is breaking some law when they open a power board cupboard and switch off the power to a unit without permission.  

However, as we often say here, the are no StrataKops coming round to take you away – if there were there would be no problems with parties in the first place.

In strata, as in the rest of our society, there are people who define right and wrong by what they think they can get away with. So it may not be entirely legal but it’s surely fair to impose the same dubious morality on them.