Business management system and method for a deregulated electric power market using consumer site anomaly detection

Abstract

A business management method for remote detection of anomalies with interaction between an electric distribution company and a plurality of customer energy consumers with respective electric metering systems, comprises the steps of: the consumers providing respective metering system data to the electric distribution company; the electric distribution company monitoring the respective electric metering system data; the electric distribution company monitoring for anomalies in the data; the electric distribution company performing remote online diagnostics upon detection of an anomaly; upon a finding that the electric metering system of a respective customer energy consumer is functioning properly, the electric distribution company notifies the respective customer energy consumer; and upon a finding that the electric metering system of a respective customer energy consumer is not functioning properly, the electric distribution company schedules a repair visit with the respective customer energy consumer. The method is likewise applicable to other commodities such as a water supply, fuel gas supply, or the like.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.