Detection of electrical theft from a transformer secondary

Abstract

Techniques for identifying electrical theft are described herein. In an example, a secondary voltage of a transformer may be inferred by repeated voltage and current measurement at each meter associated with the transformer. A difference in measured voltage values, divided by a difference in measured current values, estimates impedance at the meter. The calculated impedance, together with measured voltage and current values, determine a voltage at the transformer secondary. Such voltages calculated by each meter associated with a transformer may be averaged, to indicate the transformer secondary voltage. A transformer having lower-than-expected secondary voltage is identified, based in part on comparison to the secondary voltages of other transformers. Each meter associated with the identified transformer may be evaluated to determine if the unexpected voltage is due to a load on the transformer. If a load did not result in the unexpected secondary voltage, power diversion may be reported.