System and method for detecting theft of electricity using meter data disaggregation

A method of detecting theft of electricity comprising:

• acquiring electrical data for a primary load using a primary meter;
• transmitting the electrical data from the primary meter to a controller;
• disaggregating the electrical data with the controller to identify secondary loads present within the primary load and to separate the electrical data corresponding to each secondary load;
• analyzing the disaggregated electrical data with the controller to detect if the disaggregated electrical data for any of the secondary loads conflicts with anticipated electrical data corresponding to the types of secondary loads identified;
• assessing with the controller an extent of tampering with an electrical line through the primary meter to the primary load based on the analysis;
• and
• outputting the extent of the tampering with the electrical line to a display.

A power system having electrical theft detection capabilities, the power system comprising:

• a primary meter configured to measure a flow of electricity through an electrical path from an electric utility to a primary load;
• a control system for detecting theft of electricity, the control system configured to:
• retrieve the electricity flow measurements of the primary meter;
• identify secondary loads within the primary load by disaggregating the electricity flow measurements of the primary meter;
• determine electricity flow measurements for each secondary load using the disaggregated electricity flow measurements;
• compare the disaggregated electricity flow measurements for each secondary load to expected electricity flow measurements based on secondary load type;
• calculate a percentage of electricity that has bypassed the primary meter before being delivered to the primary load based on the comparison of the disaggregated secondary load electricity flow measurements to the expected electricity flow measurements;
• and
• display the percentage on a graphical user interface.