A METHODOLOGY FOR THE DESIGN OF AN ELECTRICITY
THEFT MONITORING SYSTEM


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ABSTRACT

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.

INTRODUCTION

According to Smith [1], electricity theft can be in
the form of fraud (meter tampering), stealing
(illegal connections), billing irregularities, and
unpaid bills. The evidence of the extent of
electricity theft in a sample of 102 countries
between 1980 and 2000 shows that theft is
increasing in most regions of the world. The
financial impacts of theft are reduced income from
the sale of electricity and the necessity to charge
more to consumers.

OVERVIEW OF THE ELECTRICITY
SECTOR IN GHANA

The Volta River Authority (VRA) and Ghana
Grid Company (GRIDCo) are responsible for
generation and transmission of electricity in Ghana
respectively. Also, the Electricity Company of
Ghana (ECG) is responsible for the distribution of
electricity to consumers in the southern and middle
belts of Ghana, viz., Ashanti, Central, Greater
Accra, Eastern, Western, parts of Brong Ahafo and
Volta Regions of Ghana, whereas the Northern
Electrification Department (NED) is responsible for
the distribution of electricity to consumers in the
northern belt of Ghana, viz., parts of Brong Ahafo,
Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions of
Ghana. A sketch of the electric power generation,
transmission and distribution network in Ghana is
as shown in Figure 1.

ANALYSIS OF LOSSES IN POWER
SYSTEMS

Losses occur at all levels, from generation,
through transmission and distribution, to the
consumer and the meter. It is normally at the
distribution level where the majority of avoidable
losses occur. All electrical power distribution
companies operate with some accepted degree of
losses. This is no different from the scenario in
Ghana. Losses incurred in electrical power systems
have two components:
• Technical losses and
• Non-technical losses (Commercial losses)