Electrical losses combat – Detecting theft spots in low voltage networks considering available data from the free energy market

Abstract

With the advancement of IoT technologies and their increasing prevalence in households in developed countries—such as smart sockets, circuit breakers, lamps, and similar devices—the Brazilian market is also experiencing a growing normalization of these technologies as more residential consumers adopt them. In this context, considering the challenges of non-technical losses, the emerging free energy market in Brazil, and the widespread adoption of smart devices, this paper aims to conduct a top-down analysis of the distribution system, with a focus on the low-voltage network where instances of energy fraud often occur. The proposed method identifies busbars affected by theft and pinpoints the responsible consumers by utilizing thermal sensors (a principle employed in technical loss meters), power flow analysis, and statistical testing based on available average load curves.