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Biofuels: The Promise of the Next Generations

Feb 10 2010 - 1:00 PM Eastern - Your location

The second wave of biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol, algae and others bypass the food vs. fuel controversy and are on the cusp of commercialization. This webinar will review the latest developments in the advanced biofuel space with leading companies more...

Conducting a distributed chorus

Feb 17 2010 - 12:00 Eastern - Your City

Join Intelligent Utility managing editor Kate Rowland, along with a panel from PHI including Rob Stewart, manager of technology evaluation and implementation, and Todd McGregor, AMI director, for an interactive discussion about this company's work to build a more intelligent more...

21st Century T&D: Building the Transmission Piece of Smart Grid

Feb 18 2010 - 12:00 Eastern - Your City

Join industry leaders and Marty Rosenberg, Editor-in-Chief of EnergyBiz magazine, for an interactive discussion about the critical relationship between transmission and distribution (T&D) investment and smart grid success. As the energy enterprise gets smarter toward the consumer end with smart more...

Transforming the Electrical Grid: Addressing Transformation Strategies to Implementing A Smart Grid

Feb 25 2010 - 3:00-4:00pm Eastern - Your City

This webcast should be attended by those individuals that are responsible for identifying, planning and evaluating Smart Grid solutions, including those that empower and engage consumers and are easily assimilated with existing or new technology and business processes. more...

Smart Grid Revolution

Feb 18 2010 - Feb 19 2010 - AUSTIN, TX - USA

ACI's Smart Grid Revolution February 18-19, 2010 A two day strategic event bringing together utility professionals, government & state officials & consultants involved in deployment of the smart grid. To learn strategies which will improve energy efficiency programs & operations, more...

EnergyBiz Leadership Forum 2010: Energy's Emerging Architecture

Feb 28 2010 - Mar 2 2010 - Washington, DC

In 2009, a global economic meltdown collided with an energy crisis to turn the world on its ear. In the United States we've witnessed an unprecedented spending on energy resource development and infrastructure. As a result, a new energy architecture more...

CERAWeek 2010

Mar 8 2010 - Mar 12 2010 - Houston, TX - USA

CERAWeek, IHS CERA's 29th Executive Conference, is recognized as a leading forum offering insight into the energy future. Each year senior policymakers, energy and power executives, and financial and technology leaders from over 55 countries engage with CERA experts in more...

2nd Annual Thin Film Solar Summit Europe

Mar 17 2010 - Mar 18 2010 - Berlin Germany

The conference will provide a comprehensive analysis of the thin film industry and its key challenges in an interactive manner. Leading companies will share their experiences through panel debates and high-level presentations. A great opportunity to network with the whole more...

Gas and Electric Business Understanding Seminar

Feb 24 2010 - Feb 25 2010 - New York, NY - USA

Gas and Electric Business Understanding provides a comprehensive overview of the natural gas and electric industries. Position yourself for career success by gaining a solid understanding of how each business works, including key physical, market and regulatory aspects, as well more...

Gas Business Understanding Seminar

Mar 1 2010 - Mar 2 2010 - Houston, TX - USA

Gas Business Understanding provides a comprehensive overview of the natural gas industry. Position yourself for career advancement by gaining a solid understanding of how the gas business works including key physical, market, and regulatory aspects and how market participants navigate more...

Electric Business Understanding Seminar

Mar 3 2010 - Mar 4 2010 - Houston, TX - USA

Electric Business Understanding provides a comprehensive overview of the electric industry. Position yourself for career advancement by gaining a solid understanding of how the electric business works including key physical, market, and regulatory aspects and how market participants navigate this more...

Gas Market Dynamics Seminar

Mar 3 2010 - Mar 4 2010 - Houston, TX - USA

Gas Market Dynamics offers participants an in-depth understanding of North American natural gas markets and how they function. Enhance your career by furthering your knowledge of market structure, supply and demand, services offered in gas markets, and how various participants more...

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Protecting Revenue: Utilities Combat Energy Theft
5.7.09   Carolyn Heinze, Freelance Writer and Editor

Article Viewed 2789 Times
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The battle against energy theft is particularly tough in developing countries, where high poverty levels provide a strong motivation to obtain electricity for free. While technology is playing an increasing role in combating loss, utilities are employing a combination of both high-tech and low-tech solutions in conjunction with social awareness programs to protect their revenues.

Energy theft occurs in two ways: thieves will either tap into the network directly or tamper with the meters. The amount of ingenuity that goes into this practice is usually directly related to how much electricity is being consumed. With electromechanical meters, stealing electricity could be as basic as installing a shunt between the incoming and outgoing meter terminals, or interfering with the rotation of the disc, or even the counters. With electronic meters, thieves will go as far as installing radio frequency (RF) devices that interfere with the accuracy of the reading, or they will inject electrostatic charges, or expose them to strong magnetic fields, wiping out the meter's memory.

India is arguably at the forefront of the fight against energy theft, and last year, North Delhi Power Ltd. earned an Edison Award in the international category for its efforts. The company, a subsidiary of Tata Power Company Ltd., was born out of a partnership launched in July 2002 between Tata and the government of Delhi. Arup Ghosh, chief operating officer at North Delhi Power, explains that at the time, the utility's technical and commercial losses were at 54.5 percent. Today, that number has decreased to 18 percent.

North Delhi Power's most notable innovation has been the integration of its geographic information system (GIS) with a number of other applications to manage network planning, operations, commercial and asset management, and customer relationship management with the goal of improving connections, metering, billing and collections. The GIS is also linked with the organization's enterprise resource planning system to plan investment programs aimed at upgrading and extending the distribution network.

Ghosh argues that in order to combat energy theft, utilities must be prepared to launch a number of different efforts that work in tandem. In addition to its GIS, North Delhi Power employs automated meter reading (AMR), eliminating the human element. The meters themselves are equipped to withstand electrostatic charges of 50 kV, which is 20 kV above the country's standard -- making it more difficult for thieves to corrupt their memories. Regular energy audits examine not only the meters, but also the distribution transformers to which they are connected.

South Africa's Eskom, based in Sandton, began developing a more aggressive energy loss management program three years ago. Maboe Maphaka, the company's acting senior manager of energy trading, notes that a combination of outdoor meters -- where the interface sits in the customer's home, but the actual meter is fastened to a pole outside on the street -- and prepaid meters is a step in the right direction. "The customer pays up front and then uses the electricity until it runs out, and then buys another subscription," he explained.

Another way African utilities are addressing theft is through the use of specialized seals. Integrity Control Systems, based in Johannesburg, offers one-time locking security seals to its customers in the eastern, central and southern regions of the continent. Claudia Coetzer, managing director, explained that, unlike generic seals, which are easily obtained and therefore not difficult to tamper with, these seals bear a unique bar code and are constructed to withstand limited resistance to intentional break-ins.

"In our country, with crime being what it is, energy theft often doesn't take a front seat," Coetzer said. "A lot of suppliers feel that instead of taking it as far as prosecution, if they can take a proactive step to deter the tampering with something like a seal, they then have physical proof that someone has indeed tampered."

Technology -- be it low-tech or high-tech -- is only one part of the solution. Industry leaders emphasize that without an adequate social-awareness campaign, any efforts to minimize energy theft will be undermined. "Energy theft, if many cases, is a social ill," Maphaka said. "You cannot deal with it without being involved in the community and changing the way that [people] think about it."

Subscribe to Intelligent Utility magazine today.
Intelligent Utility magazine is the new, thought-leading publication on how to successfully deliver information-enabled energy. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2009 issue.

For information on purchasing reprints of this article, contact Tim Tobeck ttobeck@energycentral.com.
Copyright 2010 CyberTech, Inc.
 
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    Readers Comments

    Date Comment
    Alok Misra
    5.12.09
    Have you got your facts right? New Delhi still has some 33% theft of Electricity. The New Delhi Power fellow might be talking of the areas Where ministers are living. Even a child will tell you there how much electricity is being stolen!

    mohan mohan
    5.15.09
    pilferage of electricity is happening more rampently due to very low rates levied earlier by indian utilities in the pre-regulatory era, which was mainly a polical decision. hence what is more neded is to give more consumer awareness programs on theft, increase rewards for those who give tips on stealing to utility and improving the meter sealing, insulated wires for retail distribution in addition to AMR and other technology related programs

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