Method and system to detect non-technical losses in an electrical power system

A system for detecting non-technical losses (NTL), comprising:

• a power cable in an electrical power system;
• and
• at least one smart meter in the electrical power system;
• wherein the at least one smart meter is configured to measure an area under a squared root mean squared (RMS) current curve for the power cable over at least one time interval, the at least one time interval being determined by a continuous moving time window, the continuous moving window configuring a length and an overlap of the at least one time interval;
• wherein the at least one smart meter is configured to measure an active energy and a reactive energy for the power cable over the at least one time interval;
• wherein the at least one smart meter is configured to characterize a cable reactance and a cable resistance using a system of independent equations for the at least one time interval, the system of the independent equations using the active energy, the reactive energy, and the area under the squared RMS current curve;
• wherein the at least one smart meter is configured to determine an active energy loss and a reactive energy loss for the electrical power system using the area under the squared RMS current curve, the active energy, and the reactive energy;
• and
• wherein the at least one smart meter is configured to detect a non-technical loss in the electrical power system based on the active energy loss and the reactive energy loss over the at least one time interval.