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To Catch A (Power) Thief!

To Catch A (Power) Thief!. North Carolina / South Carolina Revenue Protection Council 2013 Training Seminar & Conference. Benja Wilson Supervisor of System Metering Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative Lexington, South Carolina February 21, 2013. Power Theft in America.

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To Catch A (Power) Thief!

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  1. To Catch A (Power) Thief! North Carolina / South Carolina Revenue Protection Council 2013 Training Seminar & Conference Benja Wilson Supervisor of System Metering Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative Lexington, South Carolina February 21, 2013

  2. Power Theft in America Very little field research in this area Surveyed utilities normally expect less than 1% theft Utilities that assign equipped field resources consistently find more theft than expected and achieve about a 6:1 payback in Revenue Assurance/Protection (El Paso Electric and Georgia Power) Anecdotal: theft increasing now that visits from staff decreasing with AMI deployment

  3. Cost of Energy Theft in the US

  4. Past Meter Tampering at MCEC • Occasional self reset meters • The standard bypasses in meter jaws • Broom straws through holes in meter cover (pre smart meter) • Meters turned upside down • External jumpers around meter

  5. Recent Power Theft at MCEC Thefts started getting more innovative: • Underground service to meter tapped to serve shed, swimming pool, and yard lights (electrical contractor)

  6. Spaghetti Junction? OH Triplex

  7. OH Triplex Conduit Stretcher Needed?

  8. Recent Power Theft at MCEC(Cont’d) Thefts started getting more innovative: • Underground service tapped to feed shed, swimming pool, and yard lights • Mop handle bypass to 30A outlet on meter service pole

  9. New Use for Old Mop Handles!

  10. And Old Dryer Plugs!

  11. Chasing the “Big Boys”! In October 2011 things changed dramatically with a call from the Sheriff’s Department - an indoor marijuana grow house was discovered and reported to us – Like having power theft on steroids!

  12. Underground Service Tapped to Feed Grow House 4/0 UG Triplex

  13. NEC Compliant?

  14. How does your garden grow?

  15. How Did We First Find the Grow Houses? • Law enforcement brought 6 out of 13 cases we have had so far • We found the remainder by: • Chasing the names • Chasing failed transformers in area • Chasing transformers that had fuses blown in area • Chasing the missing OH services that had been replaced with URD

  16. USING AMI DATA TO FIND UNMETERED REVENUE • AMI LOW USAGE • AMI LOW TO ZERO USAGE • AMI USAGE ON INACTIVE OR CUT ACCTS. • AMI NEGATIVE USAGE • AMI READING WITH MULTIPLIER CHANGES • AMI NA & RO CODES • AMI RM & SP CODES

  17. AMI LOW TO ZERO USAGE • Active Accounts with new low usage 8 days ago and zero usage for the past 7 days • METER AMR_MODULE C READING1 USAGE ACCT_NO NAME LOC_TYPE USAGE_RANGE CUT_DATE • --------- ---------- - ---------- ------- ---------- -------------------- ----------------- ------------ -------- • 36209179 7423475 R 20188 0 3400310082 RICHLAND TERRACE APT APARTMENT 2 - 5 • Active Accounts with new low usage two days ago and zero usage yesterday and today • METER AMR_MODULE C READING1 USAGE ACCT_NO NAME LOC_TYPE USAGE_RANGE CUT_DATE • --------- ---------- - ---------- ------- ---------- -------------------- ----------------- ------------ -------- • 33839838 9046385 H 15820 160 5300732951 DAYTON ODELL SHEALY CHICKEN HOUSE 520 - 960 • 87785272 8343261 C 33025 1 6901812069 JAMES D JONES OFFICE BUILDING 2 - 30 • 33402365 10269216 C 14259 0 4201361020 DANIEL R JONES OUTBUILDING 2 - 7 • 36209116 7423364! R 12861 0 3400238072 LORRAINE C MURRAY APARTMENT 31 - 54 • 36342593 7934367 S 2955 0 5800267660 EPISCOPAL CH OF ST S CHURCH 1 - 2 • 87772607 8323849 H 5913 0 5300876421 DARYL R BUZHARDT IRRIGATION 1 - 3 • 87780835 8331845 E 88606 0 4500513105 GLENDA ASBILL SINGLE WIDE 2 - 5 • 87783752 8340703! F 44775 0 4701437681 JUNE ASHLEY VINSON SINGLE WIDE 7 - 80 • 8 rows selected.

  18. AMI NA, RO, RM, SP CODES • 14-FEB-13 • Readings with code NA, RO, RM or SP for two or more days: • C MAP_LOC METER AMR_MODULE CD ACCT_NO STATUS LOC_ADDR TRANSF PHA FEEDER • - ---------- ---------- ---------- -- ------------ ------ ---------------------- ------------ --- ------ • B 195-00-054 33402399 7246265 NA 8700586010 A 1008 BACKMAN RD 195-00-033 A S10C6 • B 195-33-003 31450740 4967813 NA 8900319102 A 760 OLD BARNWELL RD 195-33-017 ABC S10C5 • D 274-03-009 87770918 8325164 NA 9200828740 I 237 MACEDON DR 274-03-005 A S16C3 • E 252-05-002 87780578 8336041 NA 4500512005 A 2799 CALKS FERRY RD 252-05-009 C S12C2 • J 105-99-002 33407116 7413865 NA 5401916505 A HOLLYWOOD RD 105-99-002 A S5C1 • R 114-49-075 87782259 8338359 NA 1100079024 A 242 ROYAL TOWER RD 114-49-011 C S3C1 • 33414826 7422498 RO • 89226984 10332481 RO • 8 rows selected.

  19. USING AMI DATA TO FIND LOSS REVENUE HOURLY USAGE > DAILY USAGE TRANSFORMER TOP 20 HOURLY USAGE MISSED HOURLY USAGE RATE I CONTROL PERIODS ACCTS W/NO USAGE MONTHLY AVERAGE COMPARISON

  20. MONTHLY AVERAGE COMPARISON • Report takes the average of spring and/or fall months and compares to an average of summer and/or winter months

  21. MONTHLY AVERAGE COMPARISON • This report was run for daily average for April & October and compared to daily average for June & July • The daily average was 18 KWH for the April & October Period • The daily average was 19.5 KWH for the June & July Period • A Very Small Difference for the two periods

  22. WHAT IS MISSING? AIR CONDITIONING LOAD THE DAILY AVERAGE USAGE IS VIRTUALLY NO DIFFERENT FROM SPRING AND FALL TO THE SUMMER

  23. What Was Needed • A quick, easy, unobtrusive, clamp on measurement device for primary voltage • Early investigations lead us to devices that did not measure at low enough current levels with sufficient accuracy

  24. What We Found(via CRN) Awesense Raptor • 1% accuracy from 0.1 – 400 Amps • Extendo Stick install and removal • Quickly and easily installed out of sight • Wireless mesh connectivity reads all devices wirelessly with wireless connection to one

  25. Wireless Communication with USB Receiver and Field Application • Self creating RF mesh network • Connect to one = connected to all • Wireless range of 1000 yards between devices • Raptor, network and battery information • Upload Deployment to CORE

  26. Raptor Unit

  27. Extendo Stick Installation

  28. Typical Installation

  29. How We Use the Raptors • Place units strategically along the line • Balance data from Raptors with AMI hourly data, transformer loss estimate, and outdoor lighting allocation. • Find the missing losses (KWH)

  30. Limitations • Raptor records current vs. time not KWH • Have to set the voltage and power factor to calculate KWH • Works best when proportion of theft is large compared to metered usage • Can use AMI voltage reads to improve voltage estimate • Assumed transformer and line losses

  31. “Real World” Case Two Raptors were initially deployed in area of suspected theft of power

  32. Deployment of Two Raptors

  33. Raptor and AMI Data

  34. Calculated Results Awesense AMI Awesense AMI Raptor 1 KWh1 Raptor 2 KWh2

  35. Deployment Results 2.0% 0%

  36. Deployment of Three Raptors

  37. Deployment Results 9.24% 7.72% 2.29%

  38. Awesense Results to Date • Found theft site from previous examples – have to consult with law enforcement next • Found a bypassed meter socket in conjunction with AMI exception reports • Narrowing down possible theft on another 20-25 meter tap • Investigating other suspicious areas

  39. Using Awesense to Find Power Theft w/o AMI

  40. Future Uses • Add more Raptors to our toolkit for detection and investigation of theft of service • Use KWH profile data from down line SEL recloser controls • Continue to make use of all credible tools available and investigate other methods/tools • Use Awesense system to check C&I metering

  41. Questions??? That’s All – Folks!!

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