Our product supports GPRS based barcode scanners which send data to our application. To prevent precisely this thing from happening, we advise our customers to make a special deal with the mobile carrier to ensure that the SIM card can't be used in any other device than the barcode scanner.

Considering that there is such a simple technical solution (IMEI lock) to this problem and considering the amount the Telco charged for the data in this case, I really think that the punishment here was too harsh.

The power company should at least pay for some of the charges due to not using a simple technical precaution (which, according to the article, they implemented for later customers) and the carrier, well... where I live extortion is a crime in itself and charging 193K for data traffic is just crazy.