Remote detection of illegal electricity usage employing smart energy meter - A current based technique

At present, illegal usage of electricity is a serious problem facing the power industry in many countries. An efficacious and worthwhile solution to counteract this problem can be realized by using: a) already existing electrical network for communication i.e. PLC(Power Line communication) b) smart metering system. In the prototype of detection system presented in this paper, test signal at high frequency is transmitted through the network and software at supplier's end compares data with reference data. Based on the outcome of this comparison, it can remotely be detected if there is any illegal electricity usage or not. The study documented in this paper puts forward a new and unprecedented current-based technique to tackle the problem of illegal electricity usage. This paper reveals the existence of very small line current during the detection test which proves to be the key to unlock the problem of illegal electricity usage detection.