By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

Mention energy theft and many will think Brazil or India where electricity losses are staggering. Yet no corner of the world seems immune from it – be it meter tampering, pilfering copper wire from substations, illegal hookups, siphoning or other unlawful schemes. Consider:

·         Ireland's main energy supplier has seen a 50% increase in meter box tampering in the last three years

·         In Virginia, Danville Utilities reports a growing problem with people tampering with smart meters

·         A subsidiary of DTE Energy is suing two customers for removing smart meters from their homes and replacing them with equipment they purchased themselves; the utility calls it tampering but the residents say they were justified due to health and privacy concerns

·         In Hong Kong a few months back police rounded up more than 90 people suspected in a meter-tampering scheme to help restaurants lower their utility bills; the cost to power and gas utilities was estimated at HK$30 million

·         Last month a Pennsylvania man was sentenced to prison for stealing copper ground wire from a PECO substation

·         Non-payments led to a 25% increase in electricity disconnections in the New South Wales region of Australia last year

·         A Connecticut woman stole more than $3,000 in electricity by forging medical documents to prevent her utility from shutting off her service

Electricity theft is not new, of course. But it is rampant today in many parts of the world where losses can amount to billions of dollars annually.

"The total energy lost in the state of Rio de Janeiro in one year alone would be enough to supply the 6.2 million people who live in Santa Catarina for 12 months," notes Eric Dresselhuys of Silver Spring Networks, which is involved in a Brazilian smart meter pilot with local partner AES Eletropaulo. In Brazil's Para region, Dresselhuys tells power-technology.com, 10,000 new unauthorized connections appear every month.

Geraldo Guimaraes of Elster, quoted in the same power-technology.com article, says that part of the problem in Brazil has been that meters, often with poor casings, have been located inside homes. Now utilities have permission to locate them outside homes or at the top of electricity poles - a step toward fraud prevention. Next step, he says, is smart metering.

"The use of smart technologies to help stop non-technical losses contributes to a feasible business case in terms of meter payback," says Guimaraes. Last year Elster was selected by Brazil's second largest utility, Light SA, to expand its AMI to 80,000 more endpoints in Rio de Janeiro.

A Forbes piece on Brazilian utilities moving to smart meters notes: "The meters can detect unusually heavy demand, which may signal an illegal hookup. They can also be used to shut off service to households and businesses that don’t pay their bills. The devices remove the human factor from the equation, so customers can no longer collude with dishonest meter readers to cheat the power company."

Yet in Virginia, Danville Utilities – which has deployed smart meters – is asking customers to report any signs of what it calls the dangerous and dishonest practice of meter tampering.

“It has been an ongoing problem, but it seems to be getting worse,” said Steve Saum, director of the city’s Utilities Department who was quoted in a Star-Tribune article. He noted that stealing electricity may seem like a victimless crime, but it's not.

“Everyone eventually ends up paying for the theft because the cost of purchasing and distributing the electricity has to be accounted and paid for,” Saum said.