Iot-Based Power Theft Detector

DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.59256/ijire.20250601001

Published In

Volume 6, Issue 1 (2025)

Published Online

January-February 2025

Pages

01-06

Article Type

Original Article

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Today energy theft or energy meter tampering is the worldwide problem that contributes heavily to revenue losses. Consumers have been finding new methods to manipulate their electric meters. In any way their intention is to stop working energy meters and at the same time they are enjoying free power. The most common method is by passing the meter by shorting input & output terminals and using power without paying for it. Power theft through energy meter tampering is one of the major causes of revenue losses. In this method of tampering to bypass the meter, one must remove the terminal block top cover where input and output terminals are connected. After removing the top cover, a person uses to short input and output terminal through a piece of wire. We are not shorting terminals, but using an IR sensor network arranged inside the top cover, automatically supply to the house will be automatically disconnected and the alarm will be energized. Once the supply is disconnected, automatically power theft information will be transmitted to the concerned mobile phone through the WiFi module. Whenever the top cover is removed, power will be disconnected through relay and power will not resume until the reset key is activated, in practical this reset key must be arranged inside the meter somewhere in a secret place such that it will not be accessible to the energy user. For demo purposes, it is arranged outside for easy accessible. In this project work an electronic energy meter is used which generates pulses according to the load applied to it, therefore energy consumption information also will be displayed through an LCD interfaced with main processing unit designed with an 89C52 microcontroller chip.