Solving electricity fraud with mobile meter reading technology
Ebin Thomas
Account Executive at Anyline
If utility companies had an arch nemesis, it would be named power and electricity fraud. Whether customers play a role in scamming their provider directly or find themselves the victim of such a scheme does not matter — the issue affects everyone globally.
That said, utilities can take added steps to reduce this practice. Namely, by using mobile solutions, such as mobile meter readers, aimed at ensuring those looking to commit fraud are thwarted in their tracks before they can even get started.
Jump to key topics
Jump to key topics
1. What is electricity fraud?
Utility providers are confronted to two types of losses, which are categorized as either technical or non-technical losses.
- Technical losses (TLs) are from material and physical limitations that end up causing electricity losses — i.e. elements out of everyone’s control. Infrastructure deficiencies can also be a cause of TLs.
- Non-technical losses (NTLs) are a bit different. These are classified as non-billed or incorrectly billed electricity, as well as illegal or fraudulent use of electricity: meter tampering, billing irregularities made by incorrect meter reading and more. Theft can also be a problem, such as in situations where direct connections to the grid are made that allow someone to bypass meters and access the grid entirely.
Electricity fraud goes into the second category, NTLs. If not all NTLs are due to fraud, a large proportion of NTLs can be attributed to fraud and theft.
2. What are the consequences for utility companies and their customers?
When it comes to energy fraud, it isn’t a victimless crime. In fact, both customers and the power providers face damages. For example:
- Customers see higher energy bills when their neighbors intentionally defraud utility companies and increase regional usage.
- Extra strain on the power grid from illegal activity can result in greater downtimes.
- The dangers of manipulating meters or installing electrical connections can lead to damages to the energy network and injuries.
Furthermore, utilities find themselves in a tough position when they lose out on revenue and see honest customers leaving to go to other providers due to power issues. Both are big problems that providers need to be willing to face directly by implementing solutions in battling fraud.
3. What solutions to energy fraud are there?
While there are numerous energy fraud solutions out there, one option that researchers at the University of Chicago highly suggest is introducing technology-based reforms, like smart meters to the traditional meter reading process. However, this is not always the best solution, as smart meter rollouts can be very expensive to undertake, and this option is therefore not always within the means of utilities.
Another popular technical solution that makes the possibility of electricity fraud close to impossible, is an AI-based technology called optical character recognition (OCR).
Using this cutting-edge mobile technology, utility workers can use their own smartphone to scan customers’ meters onsite. They can also scan other information, such as meter barcodes and serial numbers, to record the meter reading process. The end result? Utility companies can guarantee their customers that the correct meters are being scanned.
4. What benefits are there to OCR technology?
That said, there are numerous benefits to adopting OCR. This technology has a 99% accuracy rate. That way, getting information from the wrong meter is almost impossible. Additionally, this ensures correct billing for every involved party—the customer, the community, and the utility company.
Efficiency and speed of reading meters is also greatly improved for utility providers. And the ability to catch energy losses before they spin out of control into mega fraud is also greatly improved.
As a result of those two benefits, utility companies save a lot of resources thanks to the accurate and fast meter reading process. Moreover, utility companies can save resources by applying mobile apps for the mobile meter reading on their employee’s smartphones, which makes purchasing special devices unnecessary.
5. How can utility providers integrate mobile meter readers?
Anyline utility mobile meter reading technology can be easily integrated into an app thanks to its SDK (Software Development Kit) for the fast and secure transmission of meter reading data.
It is easy to integrate and is backed up by hands-on support from customer service teams ready to help. It works with Android and iOS smartphones and offers support for common integration frameworks including Xamarin, React Native, and Cordova.
Ready to learn more about solving electricity fraud with Anyline’s OCR? Download our utility demo app or contact us for additional information or to get started.
