We have investigated the effect of Edge Localised Modes (ELMs) on the total plasma current in JET tokamak plasmas using the earth leakage detection circuit connected to the in-vessel saddle coils. These measurements, and the geometry of the saddle coil circuit, indicate that, in typical H-mode plasmas, up to ~300A (corresponding to a maximum of ~150A per MA of plasma current) can be deposited at each ELM in regions rather far away (~50cm) from the strike point position and divertor target plates. These current losses decrease with increasing ELM frequency (fELM), being practically below or around the detection limit for fELM>60Hz, and show some saturation for increasing diamagnetic energy losses for "slow" Type-I ELMs at fELM<10Hz. The measurements reported here are consistent with the ELM phenomenon being associated to a peeling of the edge magnetic flux surfaces.