That's just nomenclature. Utility Theft, Cable Theft, and Internet Usage Theft are just names. The actual process involves no stealing. Just like software piracy doesn't involve swashbucklers. It's gaining unauthorized access to something. Since data is limitless, you cannot steal it - you can copy it and destroy the original, but that's two different things, and neither of them is theft.
Stealing is not deprivation. Stealing is taking items without the issuer consent. Deprivation does come into it, can can decide how bad the theft was, as does amount and means done in the action there of.
larceny: the act of taking something from someone unlawfully; "the thieving is awful at Kennedy International"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
In criminal law, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft
The act of stealing property
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/theft
The unlawful taking of people's goods without using force nor intimidation or violence on them.
www.vidacaixa.es/eng/glosario/glosario_qz.htmlTheft - The willful taking of one person's property by another, wrongfully. To recover indemnity, an intent permanently to deprive the owner of his/her property need not be established for there to be a theft under the policy.
http://www.telumsden.com/Glossary.html (A law firm with a nifty glossary.)
There are versions of theft where deprivation is paramount, however its not the sole contributor to theft.
I can take something from you, without your consent then give it back to you. This however does not wash away the initial act nor what it was. It was still theft, without deprivation.