Anti-theft energy metering for smart electrical distribution system

Abstract

Accurate metering and billing of actual energy consumed by consumers is integral to commercial management of an electric utility. An aggregate technical and commercial loss in India is around 27% and this is very high in spite of various reforms and measures by electricity boards across country. One of the significant components of these losses is Theft. Electricity theft is a grave problem across the globe. Improvement in aggregate technical and commercial losses in phased manner is very important for financial and technical viability of distribution companies in deregulated environment. The major challenge is to identify the location of the theft and estimate the amount of energy being stolen. Research to identify power pilferages and remedial measures to overcome them in electricity sector has been going on in recent years. The Paper proposes a conceptual approach to get both the approximate location and estimate of energy theft at that location. With both information available in real time, it will completely change the landscape of electrical sector across the nation.