Distribution Line Monitoring System for the

Detection of Power Theft using Power Line

Communication
Alwin Vinifred Christopher Guhesh Swaminathan, Maheedar Subramanian,
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering PravinThangaraj
Sri Sai Ram Engineering College Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Chennai – 600 044, India Sri Sai Ram Engineering College
vinifred.eee@sairam.edu.in Chennai – 600 044, India
guheshswamy@gmail.com, maheedar001@gmail.com,
pravinthangaraj.eee@gmail.com

Abstract— Electrical power theft is the main cause of Non with the power frequency signal. The variation in the amplitude
Technical Losses (NTL) in the electrical power system. This of this carrier signal can be monitored at regular intervals and
paper is intended to provide with an innovative scheme for the the theft of electricity can be detected by the computation of
detection and monitoring of Electrical power theft in the the differential change in the amplitude of the carrier signal.
Electricity distribution system based on the principle of Power
line Communication. A Narrow band power line carrier signal is
injected into the distribution power line along with the power II. EXISTING SYSTEM
frequency signal (230V, 50Hz). Any illegal utilization of
electricity will be detected with the differential change in the A. Power Line Communication model
amplitude of the narrow band carrier signal which can be
detected with precision. Simulation results using MATLAB Power Line Communication is used for the purpose of high
software are provided showing that the scheme is simple and speed broadband communication between the power stations
efficient.
and substations, for controlling appliances in the household
and industries. As there will be inter-harmonics due to the
Keywords— Electrical Power Theft, Non Technical Losses
(NTL), Power Line Communication (PLC), Narrow band power
high frequency power line signals [3], the carrier frequency is
line carrier signal. being chosen in such a way that there is no interference
between the signals and a proper filtering circuit is being
implemented at the receiver end to separate the signal from the
I. INTRODUCTION power frequency signal. Line traps and coupling capacitors are
provided on the system model of the PLC for the purpose of
eliminating the carrier signal from the power frequency signal
Non Technical Losses (NTL) in the electrical power so that the electrical and electronic appliances does not get
system is the transmission and distribution losses originating affected. Line tuner circuits are being provided for matching
from Electrical theft and other illegal use of electricity. These the impedance between the carrier signal transmission and the
losses however differ from Technical losses as these cannot be transmission line [4]. With the help of these circuits, the
detected or measured accurately. The NTL comprises of power utilities implement Power Line Communication
illegal connections, meter tampering, billing errors etc. out of through the High Voltage (HV) and Low Voltage (LV) power
which electricity theft through meter tampering and direct lines.
rigging from the transmission or the distribution line
contributes higher percentage of loss of electricity [1]. Theft
of electricity in the world is one among the major loss of
revenue irrespective of being a developed or a developing
nation. In United States of America, the NTL are estimated to
about 0.5% to 3.5% of the gross annual revenue [2]. In
developing countries like India, the loss of electricity due to
theft is projected to about 20% to 30% of the overall loss in
Power utility.
The proposed system is to detect and monitor the theft of
electricity using the principle of Power Line communication
(PLC). As in PLC, a narrow band power line carrier signal of
higher frequency can be transmitted in the power line along Fig.1 System Model of Power Line Communication [4]
 The frequency of the carrier signal used for the
communication is selected based on the standards specified by
various international organizations such as CENELEC 50065-1
which allocates the frequency band of 3 kHz to 148.5 kHz for
the communication through Low Voltage lines [5] and
according to Federal Communication Commission, USA, the
allowable frequency band is from 9 kHz to 500 kHz for Power
Line Communication. The PLC concept is mainly used for the
purpose of Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) applications [6].
B. Power Theft Prevention models
The theft of electricity is mainly caused through meter
tampering and direct rigging of the transmission or the
distribution line. For the prevention of meter tampering, there
are methods such as the deployment of Light Dependent
Resistor (LDR) circuits in the meters [9] or by the use of
automatic meter reading (AMR) system. But when the direct
rigging of the transmission line or distribution line is
concerned, there are certain methods which are prevalent such
as follows:
i. Installation of energy meter in the poles carrying the
transmission or distribution lines. With the help of
wireless transmission of data, the data can be interpreted
which gives the information regarding the theft of
electricity. [7]
ii. Fuzzy logic technique can also be employed in the
detection of the power theft where the output power of the
transformer is compared with the total power read by the
energy meters at every house. [8]
iii. Prevention of theft of electricity by the use of smart meter
using Automated Metering Interface (AMI) which
transmits the meter reading and controls illegal activities.
C. Drawbacks of existing theft prevention models
Though several methods are available, the percentage of
power theft is not reduced because of the fact that these
methods have their own disadvantages due to interpretation of
data regarding power, efficiency and accuracy to pinpoint the
place of theft. The proposed system overcomes these
adversities to present an efficient and simple scheme to
determine the point of power theft due to cable rigging with
precision.
III. PROPOSED THEFT DETECTION SYSTEM
In the Power System, with the change in the load, there will
be a change in the normal power frequency signal (230V, 50
Hz). With the addition of load, there will be a voltage drop
across the load. But this voltage drop will be momentary as
the voltage sag will be compensated by the equipments such
as tap changing transformers, capacitor banks and FACTS
compensators so as to make the system stable. Because of the
compensation, there cannot be any measurement of voltage
drop across the load in a very small time.
In the proposed system, along with the normal power
frequency signal, an additional signal is transmitted based on
the principle of Power line Communication (PLC). This signal
may be of frequency ranging between 3 kHz and 500 kHz
based on the standard followed [5], [6]. As there is no
compensation in this signal, there will be changes in the
amplitude of this high frequency signal due to the changes in
the load. With the addition of any load, there will be a
reduction in the signal amplitude which can be sensed using
gain detectors.
A. Block Diagram
Initially, based on the principle of PLC, the high
frequency signal is added along with the normal power
frequency signal using inductive and capacitive components.
By the property of the inductive and capacitive component,
XL = 2Πf L and XC = 1/ (2Πf C)
the inductive component will block the high frequency signal
and allow the low frequency signal as the inductive impedance
is directly proportional to the frequency and the capacitive
component will allow the high frequency signal and block the
low frequency signal as the inductive impedance is inversely
proportional to the frequency. This will protect the respective
circuitry without causing any damages. This added signal is
then passed through the transmission line.
Fig. 2 Block Diagram of the proposed system
At each pole, the added signal is isolated into
individual signals using analog filters and the power frequency
signal is supplied to the authorized consumer and the high
frequency signal is transmitted to the detection circuit. The
detection circuit computes the differential change in the
amplitude of the high frequency signal. If any illegal
consumption of electricity is made through direct rigging of
the transmission line, due to the inductive nature of the load,
there will be attenuation in the high frequency signal which
can be detected. The attenuation in the signal is given by
Where Vin – input voltage
Vout – output voltage
 By measuring this attenuation, the theft of electricity can be
detected with precision along the distribution line.

B. Modeling of the proposed system

Based on the modeling of Power line communication [4],

the circuit diagram is designed in MATLAB. Normal power
frequency signal and the high frequency signal are combined
and transmitted into the distribution line through the line trap
and coupling capacitor. The input circuit consist of inductor in
series with power frequency supply to block the high
frequency signal affecting the generator. In the high frequency
side, a coupling capacitor and a series resistor are connected
so as to protect the oscillator circuit from power frequency
supply. The series resistor is connected in place of line tuner
to provide impedance matching. When the supply is Time in Seconds
Fig. 4 Simulation of the Input signal through the transmission line
connected, then the two signals will get added and can be
transmitted through the distribution line. The frequency of the
Considering the theftless condition, the attenuation of the
carrier signal is chose to be 150 kHz to meet out the standard
high frequency carrier signal will be due to the coupling
of the Federal Communication Commission, USA [6]. Based
capacitor, line trap, transmission line and analog filters in the
on this frequency of the carrier signal, the values of the
pole based circuit. The amplitude of this attenuated signal
inductor and the capacitor are selected.
under theftless condition is made as the reference for the
The combined signal through the distribution line will detection circuit.
have the amplitude of 250 V since the power frequency
voltage of 230 V is being added with the high frequency signal
of amplitude 20 V. This is the principle of Power Line
Communication where an additional signal is being added
with the power frequency signal. [9]

Time in Seconds
Fig. 5 Simulation of the Output signal under theft less condition

C. Detection of theft of electricity

Time in Seconds
Fig. 3 High frequency carrier signal of frequency 150 kHz
In each pole of the distribution system, a filter circuit
along with the detection circuit is placed for the purpose of
seperating the signals and monitoring the high frequency
signals respectively. The pole based circuit will consist of
analog low pass filter which will pass the power frequency
signal to the authorized customers and a analog high pass filter
which will pass the high frequency carrier signal to the
detection circuit.
Considering the occurrence of theft, due to the presence of
impedance in circuit there will be attenuation in both the
power frequency signal and high frequency carrier signal. But
due to the compensation in the power frequency signal, there
will not be any change due to illegal usage of electricity. But
in the absence of any compensation in the high frequency
carrier signal, due to the impedance there will be loss of signal
power causing attenuation in the signal.
A RL load is considered for the purpose of simulation. The
load is connected in series with the transmission line as with
respect to the generator, the loads are in series. For a load of R
= 2Ω and L = 8 mH connected in series with the distribution
line, there is a comparable loss in the high frequency signal
due to the increase in the impedance of the circuit. When the
amplitude of this output is compared with the reference
condition, the theft can be detected.
Time in Seconds
Fig. 6 Simulation of the Output signal under theft condition
D. Benefits of the proposed scheme
When compared with the existing systems, the proposed
power theft detection system has various benefits.
 As the theft of electricity can be located within a range
of 25-50m, the system can be more efficient, accurate
and reliable when compared to other existing system.
 The proposed system can be easily implemented to the
present power system network as it consists of simple
and cheap components.
 As high frequency carrier signal is transmitted along
with the power frequency signal, when the connection
is made to equipments through direct rigging of
distribution line, the equipment will be damaged due
to this high frequency carrier signal.
 As the power theft can be limited by the system, the
loss of electricity due to theft can be minimized. Since
the loss of electricity is low, more power can be
utilized for constructive purposes and satisfy the
growing demand of electricity.
 Since the power theft leads to loss of revenue, when
the theft is minimized there will be increased revenue
by which power quality of the developing countries
can be improved.
 If the proposed system output is interfaced with
monitoring techniques such as SCADA (Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition system), it will be easy
to interpret the data regarding the theft from a remote
location.
IV. CONCLUSION
The proposed system introduces a new technique of
detection of theft of electricity based on the principle of Power
Line Communication. The simulation results under the no-
theft condition and theft condition has proved that the
principle of Power Line Communication technique can be
effectively used for the detection of the theft of electricity in
the Power system. Even when a high frequency rejection
circuit is implemented with the directly rigged line to the
devices, because of the impedance in the circuit, there will be
a variation in the amplitude of the high frequency carrier
signal which can be detected effectively. As there is no
requirement of complex circuitry for the measurement of high
frequency signal, the implementation of this theft detection
scheme can be of cost efficient for the power utilities.
During the real time implementation of the scheme, certain
factors such as the loading effect on the oscillator and rating of
the components should be considered. By providing proper
isolation from the power frequency signal, the system can be
implemented without any source for damage to the oscillator
and the entire detection circuit.
V. FUTURE WORK
The future work will be to modify the same proposed
system to facilitate the detection of fault in the power system
along with the power theft. With the inclusion of detection
circuit for both the power theft and fault in the same proposed
system, the power system will be more efficient. The
implementation of such detection circuit will increase the
revenue through power distribution and will aid the power
system employees to rectify the errors without much
difficulty.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The team would like to acknowledge Dr. Chenthamarai
Selvan, Senior Principal Scientist, Central Scientific
Instruments Organization (CSIO), Chennai for the valuable
information regarding Power Line Communication (PLC).
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