Mitigating Electrical Losses Through a Programmable Smart Energy Advanced Metering Infrastructure System

Abstract

With the current alarming exponential increase in global energy demand chiefly due to population growth, electrification, and the issues associated with fossil generation, utilities are reinvesting their returns in alternative ways of clean power generation. Although, finding alternative ways to provide clean energy and to advance the power grid are of the main interest globally, many countries face power theft as a frequent problem. in Ghana, power losses in the distribution system cost the nation over a billion Ghana Cedis in the country's total annual revenue, of which power theft plays a predominant role. This paper presents an electricity theft mitigation technique through a programmable smart energy meter. The proposed method is such that interruptions are added to the smart energy meters in order to detect input signals from an added current sensor placed at the terminal point of the service line, from where in-between the sensor and the meter, illegal connections are made. The proposed Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system will provide smart services, including calculating consumed energy in kWh and generating a bill sent to the utility station. After which, the AMI system will disconnect the power supply from the meter.