Electricity Theft Concerns within Advanced Energy Technologies

Trevor J. Bihl Salam Hajjar

Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering Weisberg Division of Engineering
Wright State University Marshall University
Dayton, OH 45431 Huntington, WV 25755
Trevor.Bihl@wright.edu hajjar@marshall.edu

Abstract —Developments in ambient energy and radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting have the potential to provide in situ power for
sensor systems; however, they also have the potential to illicitly collect generated energy. Additionally, new methods of electricity theft
have appeared with the introduction of smart grid components. This paper provides an understanding of electricity theft as it relates to
advanced energy applications, e.g. energy harvesting and the smart grid. A discussion is also provided of the interdisciplinary, ethical
and education issues of electricity theft as it relates to these domains.

Index Terms—Crime, education, electricity theft, energy harvesting, metering, non-technical losses, revenue protection,
smart meters, theft.

I. INTRODUCTION II. LOSSES IN T&D SYSTEMS

E LECTRICITY theft, defined herein as “intentional theft or

nonpayment for electrical services by way of a variety of
To understand electricity theft one necessarily needs a basic
understanding of losses in transmission and distribution (T&D)
technical or non-technical means,” is currently an important systems. Conceptually, total losses in a T&D system are the
economic and technical issue. Economically, worldwide difference between total produced kilowatt hours and total
electricity theft losses were most recently (2014) estimated to consumed kilowatt hours.
be $89.3 billion [1]. Technically, various approaches have been Total losses in a T&D system are generally of two types,
developed to detect and mitigate against theft. technical losses and non-technical losses [4]–[6]. Technical
The smart grid, one advanced energy technologies of interest losses are defined as calculable from known physical properties
herein, involves the widespread adoption of digital meters, of the T&D system and include resistance in transmission lines
sensors and controllers to provide improved quality and and components, inefficiencies in switching, electricity usage
resiliency of the electric grid by remote monitoring and control at generation plants, core losses in transformers and heat
of all aspects of electricity transmission and distribution (T&D). dissipation [4]–[9]. Nontechnical losses includes losses related
As a byproduct of the smart grid is that electricity theft can be to non-physical means, e.g. E-theft, accounting errors, and
mitigated to some degree by improved monitoring, improved faulty readings [4]–[8], [10], [11]. General examples of TL and
meters, and improved record keeping. NTL can be found in Table 1.
Energy harvesting is a discipline which aims to extract Table 1: Examples of Technical and
ambient energy from the environment. Through various Nontechnical Losses
approaches, energy harvesting enables the powering of devices Technical Losses
without relying on batteries that must be replaced. Energy Nontechnical Losses
Variable Fixed
harvesting thus have broad interest, ranging from applications load hysteresis accounting errors
such as remote weather monitoring stations to internet of things series core E-theft
faulty meters (inaccurate and
(IoT) technologies located throughout houses. However, copper eddy current
miscalibrated meters)
concerns arise due to recent, award winning, developments in transport
no-load faulty meter reading methods
energy harvesting include that of [2], work that extracts energy related
from the T&D without being billed. shunt incorrect meter readings
However, to understand the electricity theft implications of technical loss computation
iron
errors
energy harvesting and the limitations of smart meters, one must
have interdisciplinary knowledge since these concerns span
To estimate nontechnical losses, one must first estimate
domains. This requires some background knowledge in non-
general T&D system losses and then use knowledge of system
technical fields [3]. This paper aims to introduce such
components and operations to estimate technical losses [6].
interdisciplinary concerns as they relate to electricity theft
Rough estimates on general United States T&D losses range
concerns in the smart grid and energy harvesting.
from 6-9% [5] and include: 7.6% [12], 8% [13], and 10%
This paper will be organized as follows, Section II reviews
maximum of generated power [14]. These losses can be broken
and describes losses in T&D systems. Advanced energy
out into transmission and distribution pieces; with estimates
technologies are then discussed with Section III discussing the
(for Western Europe) of 1-3% for transmission and 4-9% for
smart grid and Section IV discussing energy harvesting. Section
distribution being reasonable [7].
V discusses electricity theft in particular. Section VI discusses
Due to the approximations inherent in these figures, it is
the electricity theft concerns in both the smart grid and energy
difficult to quantify the total losses due to E-theft since many
harvesting. Section VII will conclude the paper.
insufficient estimates exist from utilities arbitrarily estimating
technical losses [6] and companies rarely publishing loss or

978-1-5386-3200-0/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 271

theft data [15]. Thus, Nesbit [7] reported that there is no known
true percentage loss, with various regional, technical and
cultural differences driving disparate theft rates across a
country.
III. THE SMART GRID
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) defines the smart grid
as [16]:
“An automated, widely distributed energy delivery
network, the Smart Grid will be characterized by a two-
way flow of electricity and information and will be
capable of monitoring everything from power plants to
customer preferences to individual appliances. It
incorporates into the grid the benefits of distributed
computing and communications to deliver real-time
information and enable the near-instantaneous balance
of supply and demand at the device level”
In general, the Smart Grid is T&D system that integrates
sensing, monitoring, and communication technology for control
of T&D systems to improve losses and reliability [17]. Smart
grids provide reliable electricity and prevent blackouts by
means of computer technology. This made of smart grids a
paradigm shift in electricity T&D systems to allow for
pervasive monitoring and control to improve efficiency,
security and reliability [13], [18]. The Smart Grid dissipates less
electricity since it can reduce some problems like congestion
and other disturbances, which prevents electricity loss. The
Smart Grid enjoys the ability of hosting additional new
generators to the transmission system, which allows greater
incorporation of renewable energy sources [19].
It is of importance to indicate that a smart grid combines, not
only the conventional power generators such as gas turbines and
fossil fuel generators, but also the renewable energy generators
such as wind turbines and photovoltaic panels (PV). It provides
a bidirectional method of communication between generators,
clients and the grid controllers in order to cover the unit
commitment problem [20], observe the electricity flow, monitor
information and indicate any interruption in real time. An
example of a smart grid architecture is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1, Smart Grid Architecture
To create a smart grid, digital sensing and communication
components, at the clients’ level, are needed throughout a T&D
system. One core component of smart grids is digital meters.
Digital meters generally operate as presented in Figure 6, where
current and voltage sensors monitor power flow. Analogue-to-
digital (ADC) devices convert sensor readings to values for a
digital signal processor (DSP), with the result displayed
visually and possibly transmitted to the utility via an automatic
272
meter reading (AMR) unit [21]. Because digital meters are
installed at the client’s level they are mostly vulnerable to
malicious attacks including electricity theft on which we focus
in this paper.
IV. ENERGY HARVESTING
Energy harvesting is an approach to collecting energy in situ
for remote applications rather than relying on batteries, which
must be replaced, or paying for a connection to a distant
electrical T&D system [22]. Energy harvesting involves
extracting energy from the environment by a variety of
methods, e.g. solar, piezoelectric, vibrations, thermoelectric,
electromagnetic (magnetic field and radio frequency (RF)), and
wind [22]–[28]. The advantage Energy harvesting provides is
that mobile, embedded and remote systems can collect energy
in situ rather than relying on batteries which need to be
replaced.
One basic example of an energy harvesting application is
seen in Figure 2 where both wind and solar harvesting is
employed. Here, a remote station operated by the US Forest
Service’s and Bureau of Land Management in the Remote
Automated Weather Station (RAWS) Network is seen. The
RAWS network employs such remotely located solar and wind
powered stations to monitor weather conditions [29].
Figure 2, Example of the Remote Automated Weather
Station (RAWS) Station
Beyond remote installations, energy harvesting has been
proposed for power IoT devices [30]. The IoT involves
connecting more and more devices to the internet via wireless
personal area network (WPAN) devices, which are small and
low cost communication technologies which enable the IoT
[31]. However, due to many of devices being remote or
scattered throughout a facility, energy harvesting methods are
of great interest for the IoT [32].
V. ELECTRICITY THEFT
Electricity theft is considered as the intentional nonpayment
for electrical services by way of a variety of technical or non-
technical means. Consistent with [7], [9], [33]–[35], the authors
contend that E-theft is of three types:
A. Outright Theft, which is accomplished by:
 o Tapping an overhead line to create a new,
illegal connection
o Induction Coupling whereby energy from a
power line is collected by electromagnetic
induction without physically connecting to the
line.
B. Fraud, which is accomplished by
o Bypassing a meter to prevent it from measuring
the power consumed
o Tampering with a meter to cause it to output a
more favorable reading for the customer. This
is subdivided into mechanical and digital/smart
meter methods
C. Billing Issues
o Deliberate non-payment of bills.
o Billing irregularities, both intentional (bribing
officials to ignore use) and unintentional (poor
record keeping practices)
Although only one method is termed as explicitly theft, all of
these issues involve consuming electricity which is not paid for.
A. Outright Theft
Outright theft involves a one stealing electricity when they
are not already a known customer to a utility. Here an
electricity theif aims to create a new, and illegal, connection to
the T&D system without the approval of owner of the T&D
system.
1) Tapping
Tapping, as seen in Figure 3, involves creating an
unauthorized connection to overhead or buried line on the line
side of the distribution transformer [33]. In operation, tapping
can be used to connect a premise, or equipment, to the electric
grid where no prior connection to the grid existed. As a method
of E-theft, tapping has been in use in the United States since at
least the 1890’s [36].
Figure 3 Contemporary Example of Tapping in America,
using jumper cables to connect directly to the overhead
lines (printed with permission from Tom Erfert)
Tapping offers a significant amount of risk of electrocution
and subsequent death from this form of electricity theft to both
a perpetrator and to innocent bystanders [4], [37], [38].
Additionally, damage to T&D equipment, including
transformers, is also possible if the thief shorts a connection
[38]. Despite the inherent danger of this technique, it has been
adapted and refined for field-use by US military engineers in a
deployable system that can be thrown up to a power line to
charge equipment [39].
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2) Induction Coupling
One method that appears in the public conscious is that of
placing a large coil under a high voltage power line in order to
steal electricity [4]. Such an approach is inherently a form of
tapping by induction coupling. However, aside from a few
anecdotal reports of electricity theft by induction coupling, e.g.
[40]–[42], issues exist with such schemes. Primarily, it is
generally improbable to make a return on the investment due to
the required large amount of copper need to create a sufficiently
large coil [43]. Although the actuality of induction coupling
electricity theft is low, there are instances of induction power
light bulbs as seen in artistic installations where fluorescent
lights are lit by induction [44].
B. Fraud
Fraud in electricity theft involves performing an action to
record less consumption on an electricity bill or tampering with
metering equipment, which is owned by the power utility, to
make it record less (or no) consumption than what was actually
consumed.
1) Bypassing Existing Meetings
Bypassing a meter extends the concept of tapping, but here a
prior electric is accomplished by directly connecting the house
wiring to the wires coming into the meter wiring around the
meter [14], [33], [36], [45], [46] (see Figure 4 for two examples
of accomplishing this through the use of automotive jumper
cables and screwdrivers). This form of theft can either
completely disconnect the meter from the system [46] or leave
the meter connected in addition to the bypass so that the meter
records some amount of usage, though less than before [45],
[47]. An addition variation on bypassing includes using a
second (spare) meter for part of the billing period to avoid all
usage being recorded [47].
During whatever process a thief might use to bypass a meter,
it would be counterproductive for a thief to notify a utility to
shutoff power to a premise and it is assumed that all connections
would therefore be made to live wires. Therefore, this method
of theft also offers a significant amount of personal risk.
Figure 4, Two Examples of Bypassing a Meter Using
Automobile Jumper Cables and Screwdrivers (printed
with permission from Joseph Tedesco and Tom Erfert)
2) Meter Tampering
Tampering with an electric meter has been a concern for over
one hundred years and it is known that designing meters to
avoid tampering was a primary consideration by the late 1890’s,
see [48], [49], and is still a contemporary concern [7]. Two
meter tampering issues are of interest, a) those concerning
mechanical meters and b) those related to digital/smart meters
(which are not immune to tampering).
 a) Mechanical Meter Tampering
Methods of tampering with a meter and protection against
tampering may have evolved over time, but where mechanical
meters are in use some methods have changed little in over one
hundred years. For example, the following methods have been
viable for mechanical meter tampering from the 1890s to
contemporary times:
x mechanically stopping the disc from moving, thus
stopping it from recording the amount of energy used
[4], [33], [36], [48], [50]
x tampering with calibration screws [33], [48].
x placing magnets around the meter to disrupt the meter’s
operation [7], [49], [51].
x inserting foreign matter, such as honey, glue, insects
(such as ants and spiders), iron filings or grease to slow
the movement [7], [14], [33], [36], [47], [49], [50]
x contaminating the meter bearing [7]
x disconnecting the neutral conductor of a three-conductor
meter [33], [36], [50]
o mechanical meters do not register power
consumption under this condition
o all safety aspects of having a neutral conductor
are also lost
x damaging the movement so that it fails to operate
properly [33], [36], [47]
x reserved current tampering: physically turning the meter
upside-down (inverting) causing the meter to run
backwards [7], [14], [33], [47], [51]
x placing the meter out of plumb [50]
x altering the internal wiring of meters [14], [47].
The locations of where some of these methods are applicable
are highlighted in Figure 5. It is important to note that many
of these methods involve the thief being in contact with the
internal wiring of the meter or internal components.
Therefore, this method of theft may provide no more safety
than either bypassing or tapping.
Figure 5, Single-Phase Mechanical Watt-hour Meter with
Typical Locations Susceptible to Tampering Highlighted,
from [4]
b) Digital Meter Tampering
Digital meters, considered herein as any smart, digital or
electronic meter, have been presented as a solution to many
problems in metering, such as manpower reductions [52],
revenue protection [53], and economics. However, digital
meters are not immune to electricity theft and introduce other
tangential issues to electricity theft considerations, such as data
274
and consumer privacy [54], and big data problems of data
storage and data mining. Additionally, the manpower reduction
benefit can potentially facilitate theft by losing the frequent
personal contact of meter readers [7].
In general there are two types of digital meters [55]: 1) hybrid
digital-mechanical meters which employ a digital counter, but
otherwise measure usage mechanically and 2) wholly electronic
meters. Digital meters generally operate as presented in Figure
6, where current and voltage sensors monitor power flow into a
premise, analogue-to-digital (ADC) devices convert sensor
readings to values for a digital signal processor (DSP), with the
result displayed visually and possibly transmitted to the utility
via an automatic meter reading (AMR) unit [21].
Figure 6, Conceptualization of Single-Phase Digital Watt-
hour Meter, adapted from [21]
Digital meters have some general advantages over
mechanical meters, a digital meter typically has no disc to
mechanically stop and few have moving parts that can be
interfered with [56]. Additionally, some digital meters have tilt
and magnetic interference sensors to record when a meter was
tampered with, possibly transmitting this data to the utility [57].
In summary, digital meters have the following benefits:
x greater accuracy in some situations [55]
x elimination of moving parts, thereby removing the
viability of some electricity theft methods [56]
x real-time communication and monitoring of usage by
utilities
x AMRs record more detailed usage data and can transmit
such data to the utility.
However, digital meters also have multiple vulnerabilities
relative to electricity theft, including
x potential hacking concerns
x disconnecting the neutral wire prevents some digital
meters from recording usage [34].
Therefore, as with mechanical meters, a variety of issues and
benefits exist with digital meters. Although the impact of digital
meter tampering is unknown, Rengarajan and Loganathan [58]
posited that it was less than tapping because electronic meters
would transmit a warning once a seal was breached. However,
this relies on the assumption that a thief cannot avoid tripping
that sensor, as mentioned above there are multiple methods to
hack a digital meter.
C. Billing Issues
1) Nonpayment of Bills
Deliberate non-payment involves 1) being a known customer
of a utility and 2) refusing to pay an electric bill. Although this
is logically a particularly inefficient method of electricity theft
because any utility would have records of nonpaying customers,
it is a concern since utilities cannot always collect unpaid bills.
Thus, deliberate non-payment a contemporary problem [34], [9]
with a history dating to as early as 1896 [35].
There is a causal relationship between this method and
economic problems of customers [9]; possibly leading
financially desperate customers to other forms of theft [9].
Thus, legal action against nonpaying customers may not yield
the losses incurred. One current practice to mitigate non-
payment involves Continuous Service Agreements (CSAs),
particularly with rental properties, where uninterrupted service
is provided to property owners between occupancies; non-
payment of the final bill is considered electricity theft [59].
2) Billing Irregularities
In addition to nonpayment of bills, billing irregularities can
be a form of electricity theft. While billing irregularities can be
due to poor quality record management at utilities, they can also
be due to bribery of meter readers who agree to record a lower
amount for a customer [9]. However, bribery based
irregularities can logically be mitigated by digital meters, which
do not require a meter reader to manually record usage.
VI. DISCUSSION
Interdisciplinary considerations are key to identifying
problems to be solved through engineering development [60].
And it is recognized that well educated engineers have the
ability to apply their engineering knowledge to a variety of
domains beyond what they studied [3]. Notably,
interdisciplinary concerns exist in the smart grid and Energy
Harvesting. For example, designing and operating the smart
grid requires abilities in engineering, finance, policy, and other
domains [61]. Similarly, developing energy harvesting
solutions require broad skills in developing and finding
applications [62]. However, further interdisciplinary issues
exist when the smart grid and energy harvesting intersect with
electricity theft.
A. Electricity Theft Concerns within the Smart Grid
While digital meters having some general advantages over
mechanical meters, e.g. there being no disc to mechanically
stop and few have moving parts that can be interfered with [56],
they have multiple vulnerabilities to electricity theft by
tampering, e.g. disconnecting the ground/neutral wire [34], and
by being bypassed.
Ghajar and Khalife [10] reported on the costs and benefits of
installing AMRs for situations with large percentages of theft,
approximately 50% of revenue, and showed a return on the
investment in 2.7 years [10]. However, published studies have
yet to consider countries, e.g. USA, with a relatively low
percentage of theft and a large prior capital investment in
mechanical meters [7], [63]. Furthermore, studies have not
analyzed the cost of maintaining mechanical metering
infrastructures but incorporating data mining techniques, which
have been show viable in finding small unaccounted for losses,
e.g. [4], [7], [64].
Protecting digital meters against some types of tampering can
be provided by means of hardware instruments. Anti-tamper
approaches that involve hardware can range from placing
crucial software code in FPGAs to characterizing emissions
[65]. Magnetic tampering can be prevented by reducing the
magnetics in a meter. Current sensors such as shunt resistors
275
and Rogowski coils have no magnetic elements thus they
cannot be magnetically damaged. Basic power supplies such as
the resistive capacitive type are built without magnetics to
ensure uninterrupted system power during tampering, but lack
the capability to source large currents [59]. Reversed current
tampering can only be detected if the utility detects negative
readings or installing firmware that detects negative values.
B. Energy harvesting and theft
Concerns regarding electricity theft with energy harvesting
methods involve electromagnetic field energy harvesting
methods. Many electromagnetic field energy harvesting
methods are designed to collect power from T&D systems [25]
[66]. Here, both legitimate, powering smart grid sensors [25]
[66], possibly legitimate [67], and illegitimate, power personal
devices without utility permission [68], use cases exist.
A recent example of an energy harvesting system that aims to
collect unauthorized energy from T&D systems is one
developed by Siegel [69]. This device is advertised and
described by the developer as [2]:
“We are surrounded by electromagnetic fields which we
produce for information transfer or as a by-product of
electric infrastructure. The system is meant to be an
option for tapping into already existing but unnoted
energy sources. By exploring these sources it can create
a new awareness of the invisible electromagnetic spaces
while giving them a spatial dimension.”
In developing and exhibiting this system as a student, Siegel
was given multiple awards, including one by the University of
Arts Bremem [2], [70]. Siegel’s device has been heralded as
“free electricity” and as innovative, e.g. [71], [72], with some
expecting common use and strong acceptance is expected by
2018 [72]. However, such an approach is really the
unauthorized use of electricity and would be creating a load on
a given utility’s T&D system. More seriously, while
individually a single Siegel Energy Harvesting device likely
steals an insignificant amount of electricity, if widespread
acceptance and use is realized, then a significant amount of
electricity could be stolen.
The encouragement seen of Siegel’s electromagnetic
harvester might encourage other developers to create similar
devices. This encouragement illustrates that limited knowledge
about electricity theft concerns might also exist. Rather than
critiquing and serving as technology referees, technologist have
championed a possibly illicit technology as being inventive. To
alleviate this, technologists should become familiar with
engineering ethical and legal concerns prior to advocating
technological approach, see [73], [74]. However, such
concerns are notably interdisciplinary in nature, e.g. three
different domains of energy harvesting, electricity theft, and
engineering ethics, and challenging to critique given the ever
expanding and big data scope of academic research and
publishing [75].
C. Inter/Trans-Disciplinary and Ethical Concerns
Interdisciplinary knowledge and abilities are known as
hallmarks of well-educated and capable engineers [3].
However, interdisciplinary education is not always pursued as
part of engineering educational programs that focus on “normal
professionalism,” defined by [76] as “the thinking, values,
methods and behavior dominant in a profession or discipline.”
Thus, many capable engineers may not have knowledge across
disciplines, which can result in them missing opportunities and
key concerns as technology is developed. Thus, in the United
States, in order to create well rounded engineers ABET
encourages development of both technical and non-technical
skills such that engineers can function in interdisciplinary
environments and understand the impact of engineering across
global, economic, environmental and societal contexts [77].
As presented, electricity theft concerns exist in both the smart
grid and energy harvesting. The results of increasing electricity
theft losses include reduced planning abilities, required
additional generation abilities, and thus added waste and
pollution. However, these concerns and possible outcomes are
non-obvious in nature and require exposure to various technical
and nontechnical issues. Additionally, the accolades given to
energy harvesting technology illustrate a failure of engineering
ethical education, which requires students to be aware of ethical
standards and ethical implications of their work [78].
VII. CONCLUSIONS
Electricity theft is a major concern for utilities, despite being
lightly reported and discussed. Recent advances in the
advanced energy systems both improve resiliency to electricity
theft and introduce new vectors and methods for electricity
thieves to operate. Within the smart grid, advances in digital
metering should improve their resiliency to electricity theft.
However, the electronic aspect of digital meters introduce new
susceptibilities to electricity theft and meter tampering, which
must be overcome by cyber security methods. While energy
harvesting developments have ignored electricity theft
concerns, and even awarded designs that steal electricity from
utilities, caution is needed in this area and technologists should
act as stewards to ensure that ethical and legal concerns are
considered in engineering education to avoid developing tools
that are unethical, but not obviously so, in nature. The authors’
conclusion is that sound interdisciplinary and ethical education
of engineers would alleviate some of these issues by training
students to be aware of cross-domain issues and be able to
provide ethical judgements and technological stewardship.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Tom Erfert and Joe Tedesco,
for permission to print their pictures of actual theft; and Dan
Suriyamongkol and Bud Russell for permission to use Figure 5.
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