Unaccounted for Energy : First-hand experience

This paper dwells upon prevention of unaccounted for energy. It describes the legal issues of consumer-supplier interaction in the electricity market. The paper refers to the standards and regulations that govern such interaction. Any action to be taken must be legally sound. Outlines herein are the legal repercussions any illegal action might have. The paper defines what unaccounted for energy is. It sets forth the problem, which is to retrospectively analyze the authors' experience so as to consider how unaccounted for energy could be detected and addressed. It further describes the peculiarities of grid operators' service areas. The authors' experience reveals multiple methods that could be applied to detect unaccounted for energy. The paper points out the need for conventional controls (meter readings, whether collected manually or automatically) as well as for the proposed analytical controls. It proposes two methods: one is based on photographic evidence, while the other one uses daily and hourly consumption profiles. The authors hereof present guideline for grid operators' employees.