Harmonic Generator Deployment For Electricity Theft Detection And Prevention
Pakistan is facing an electricity demand-supply gap for over a decade. Besides, efforts to bridge this gap, the electricity losses are another aggravating area dared by the policymakers. Analysts have generally known these losses, the theft, and pilferage of electricity, as Non-Technical losses (NTL
2025-06-28 16:32:50 - Adil Khan
Harmonic Generator Deployment For Electricity Theft Detection And Prevention
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryPakistan is facing an electricity demand-supply gap for over a decade. Besides, efforts to bridge this gap, the electricity losses are another aggravating area dared by the policymakers. Analysts have generally known these losses, the theft, and pilferage of electricity, as Non-Technical losses (NTLs), that are not only difficult to detect and prevent but also harm the economy of the country. According to The Express Turbine, the English language newspaper based in Pakistan, the expected percentage of Non-Technical losses in Pakistan is 10 percent. The government of Pakistan has set the target of reducing Non-Technical losses up to 2 percent. For the achievement of this target, the order has been given to the distribution companies of Pakistan to develop efficient strategies and action plans. By keeping the same target in view, this study will propose an efficient technique for the detection and prevention of NTLs that is the use of smart meter infrastructure with a harmonic generator. In the proposed system, the smart meter will be used to determine the percentage of theft at a specific feeder by using electricity consumption data. Also, the harmonic generator will be used to harmonic signals in distribution lines which can affect the performance of the illegal customer’s appliances so that they can be punished for their theft of electricity from distribution lines.
Project Objectives- To investigate the areas in which electricity theft is detected and to determine the percentage of theft in those areas.
- To develop a simulation model of the proposed system so that its real-world performance can be predicted.
- To perform simulation analysis of the simulated model of the proposed system of distribution considering one feeder with a distribution transformer, PMTs, legal and illegal domestic loads.
- To develop a hardware model for its deployment.
The method used in this paper is to detect and prevent electricity theft by using the central smart meter and harmonic generator. The operation is carried in such a way that the central smart meter, installed after distribution transformer, will compare the sum of the power consumptions measured by individual smart meters with its own measured total power consumption. This comparison can determine the unbalanced load condition, the condition in which the sum of individual consumptions is greater than the total consumption. If the percentage of unbalanced load condition is less than and equals to 5% then we can say that there is no power theft and this slight amount of extra consumption may be due to distribution line losses but if this relationship fails then it will be the indication of theft in that specific distribution lines. Now for the prevention of theft, harmonic generator at the distribution transformer side will be used to generate high-frequency harmonics. It will activate after the theft detection in a certain area and will operate at a different frequency of a certain range for particular time intervals in a day. Generated high-frequency harmonics will only affect the load that is connected illegally to the distribution lines because the legal connection will have active harmonic filters, connected with their consumer side smart meters, to filter out all the unwanted harmonics.
Benefits of the ProjectAs electricity theft is very common in our country, it contributed a large amount of non-technical losses and cause great financial loss to the country. That’s why its prevention becomes an important factor to consider. Also, the main cause of the increase in electricity theft can be considered as the use of conventional meters, lack of check and balance, and absence of punishment against this crime, so the prevention method must consider all these factors. The proposed prevention technique will not only replace conventional meters with smart meters but also force illegal consumers to either remove their illegal connections or to pay a penalty against their crime.
Technical Details of Final DeliverableThe final deliverable of this project will be a hardware-software integrated model. This hardware model will contain 220v supply as an equivalent of one pole-mounted transformer of the radial distribution system and three legal whereas two illegal domestic loads. It also contains four single-phase smart meters, one at the supply side and one each, from the remaining three, at the individual legal load side. Harmonic active filters will also be used between smart meters and distribution lines, one with a supply-side smart meter and the remaining three with load side smart meters. A device, which will work as a source of harmonics, will be connected in parallel with the loads in the distribution line as a harmonic generator. The operation of this generator will be based on some control systems. The results of this project will not only help detect the electricity theft in the distribution system but also provide the implementation of a theft prevention technique which can prevent the theft of up to 50% in the distribution system for domestic loads. Also, the implementation of this project can save the utilities from large financial losses and can contribute to the reduction of a large amount of non-technical losses associated with the present distribution system.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry ITOther Industries Energy Core Technology OthersOther Technologies Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 69900 | |||
| single-phase smart meter | Equipment | 4 | 9000 | 36000 |
| variable frequency drive (as harmonic generator ) | Equipment | 1 | 15000 | 15000 |
| single phase harmonic active filter | Equipment | 4 | 1600 | 6400 |
| conducting wires (conductors) | Equipment | 10 | 800 | 8000 |
| circuit breaker | Equipment | 4 | 1000 | 4000 |
| paper ream | Miscellaneous | 1 | 500 | 500 |