A Methodology for the Design of an Electricity Theft Monitoring System

Utility companies in Ghana estimate that electricity theft costs them over a billion US dollars in annual revenues. The purpose of this work is to provide an algorithm for the design of electricity theft monitoring system which allows violators to be detected at a remote location. It begins with the analysis of losses in electrical power systems. The bulk of these losses are caused by electricity theft, rather than other possibilities such as poor maintenance and calculation and accounting mistakes, though some power systems may suffer from both. Other aspects discussed include the various forms of theft practices, methodology for detection of theft, generating the theft case algorithm using the backtracking algorithm method and communicating these data from the consumer premises to the substation using the existing power lines. Appropriate conclusions and recommendations were given from the information gathered.