BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Project on Designing GSM based power theft control system
Name ID.
1. Abel Walelign…………………..0400184
2. Anteneh Shitahun……………….0400191
3. Estifanos Abeje………………….0400275
4. Hunachew Moges ……………….0400876
Advisor:
Mr. Mezigebu G.
Declaration
We are declare that this project is the original work of us, has not been submitted earlier either to
this or any other universities, and all sources of materials used for the project have been fully
acknowledged.
Name of the student signature date
Abel Walelign __________ ________
Anteneh Shitahun __________ ________
Estifanos Abeje __________ ________
Hunachew Moges __________ _________
Advisor Approval

The project has been submitted for examination with my approval as a university advisor.

Name of advisor signature date

Mr. Mezgebu Getinet ____________ ___________

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Acknowledgement
We are extremely grateful to The Department of Electrical Engineering, for giving us the
opportunity to carry out this project, which is an integral part of the curriculum in BSC. We
would like to express our earnest gratitude and regards to our project guide, Mr. Mezgebu G,
Department of Electrical Engineering, for being the corner stone of our project. It was his
continuous encouragement, invaluable supervision, perpetual motivation and guidance during the
period of doubts and uncertainties that has helped us to carry on with this project.
Last but not the least we express our sincere thanks to our entire department staff members who
have patiently extended all sorts of help for accomplishing this undertaking.

Finally, we extend our gratefulness to one and all who are directly or indirectly involved in the
successful completion of this project work.

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Abstract
Electrical energy is very important for ever day life and a spine for the industry. Electricity is
indiscipline to our daily life with increasing need of electricity the power theft is also increasing.
power theft is a problem that continues to plague power sector across the whole country.
Electricity theft happens when the customer use energy meter tampering such as placing magnet
near to energy meter, disconnecting the neutral line and shorting the phase coil of the current
transformer. For this theft mechanism we designed a system to overcome these challenges.
Electrical power theft detection and control system is used to detect the consumer when they try
to use the power illegally.

In this project two current transformer is used to measure the reading of electricity one is for
measurement of phase current and the other is to measure the turning back or neutral current.
Those signals fed to micro controller through the bridge rectifier. Microcontroller will compare
both signals. Depend on the comparison made, the microcontroller decides whether theft is going
on the energy meter or not and the message will be sent to notify the authorized power vendor
using GSM for that energy meter. Moreover when there is occurrence of theft the relay will
disconnect the load from the electricity power supply. That is GSM based power theft control
system is developed. We use proteus software to analyze and estimate what the hardware will
look like. Mainly this system consists of microcontroller, energy meter, current transformers,
LDR, relay, LCD and GSM module.

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Table of Contents
Declaration..................................................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................ ii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iii
List of table ..................................................................................................................................................vii
Acronym ..................................................................................................................................................... viii
Chapter One .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of Study .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of Problem ......................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 5
1.3.1 General objectives........................................................................................................................ 5
1.3.2 Specific objectives ....................................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Scope and Contribution of the Project ................................................................................................ 6
1.6 Thesis Organization ............................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter Two ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Literature Review ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter Three ............................................................................................................................................. 11
3. System Design and Analysis.................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Monitoring and Controlling System .................................................................................................. 11
3.2 Protection and Control System ......................................................................................................... 13
3.2.1 Ways of Electricity Theft ........................................................................................................... 13
3.2.2 Causes of Electricity Theft ........................................................................................................ 16
3.2.2 Techniques of Controlling Power Theft .................................................................................... 17
3.3 System Components and Circuit Design ........................................................................................ 18
3.3.1 Current transformer.................................................................................................................... 18
3.3.2 Electric Energy Meter ................................................................................................................ 22
3.3.3 Light depending resistor ............................................................................................................ 23
3.3.4 Relay .......................................................................................................................................... 24
3.3.5 Microcontroller .......................................................................................................................... 25
3.3.6 LCD display ............................................................................................................................... 29

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 3.3.7 GSM Modem ............................................................................................................................. 31
Chapter Four ............................................................................................................................................... 34
4. Result and Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 34
4.1 System Flow Chart ............................................................................................................................ 35
4.2 Proteus VSM................................................................................................................................... 36
4.3 Schematic Diagram ......................................................................................................................... 36
Chapter Five................................................................................................................................................ 40
5. Conclusion and Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 40
5.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 40
5.2 Recommendation .............................................................................................................................. 41
References................................................................................................................................................... 42
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 43

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List of figure
Figure 1.1: Block diagram of working methodology ..................................................................... 6
Figure 3.1: System block diagram ............................................................................................... 12
Figure 3.2:Shortening the phase line (bypassing) ........................................................................ 14
Figure 3.3: Disconnection the neutral line ................................................................................... 15
Figure 3.4: Tampering using magnet ........................................................................................... 16
Figure 3.5: Block diagram of regulated power supply unit ......................................................... 20
Figure 3.6: Simulated power supply ............................................................................................ 21
Figure 3.7: Relay coil .................................................................................................................. 24
Figure 3.8: Arduino Uno microcontroller .................................................................................... 26
Figure 3.9: LCD Display.............................................................................................................. 30
Figure 3.10: GSM working .......................................................................................................... 32
Figure 4.1: System flow chart ...................................................................................................... 35
Figure 4.2: Simulation circuit with no power theft ...................................................................... 38
Figure 4.3: Simulation circuit with power theft ........................................................................... 39

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List of table
Table 3.1: Arduino Uno parameters ............................................................................................. 28
Table 3.2: Pin description of LCD ............................................................................................... 30

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Acronym
AC Alternative Current
ADC Analog to Digital Conversion
AT Attention command
CT Current Transformers
D Diode
DC Direct current
EEPROM for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read only memory
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
IN Neutral current
I/O Input/output
IP Phase current
IT Information Technology
LCD liquid Crystal Display
LED Light Emitting Diode
NTL Non-technical loss
POS Point Of Sale
PT Potentiometer
PWM Pulse width modulation
RAM Random access memory
ROM Read only memory
RTC Real Time Clock
SMS Short Message Service
TL Technical loss

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 Chapter One
Introduction

1.1 Background of Study

Today Electricity becomes our day to day part of life. When we woke up from our bed
in the morning we light up our class bulbs and then go to prepare a breakfast using the
electricity that we bought. Then we will continue our electricity usage trend throughout the
whole day.

Electrical energy is very important for ever day life and a spine for the industry. The electricity is
needed to be protected for efficient power delivery to the consumer because electricity is
indispensable to domestic and industrial development activity. Generation, transmission
and distribution of electrical energy involve many operational losses. There are two types
of losses technical and Nontechnical losses overall technical losses occur naturally and are
caused because of power dissipation in transmission lines, transformers, and other power system
components. Technical losses in transmission and distributions computed with the information
about total load and the total energy billed. While nontechnical losses cannot be precisely
computed, but it can be estimated from the difference between the total energy supplied to the
customers and the total energy billed. Moreover non-technical losses are illegal utilization of
power by electricity consumers.

Electricity theft has emerged as a serious problem in power sectors especially in the developing
countries. A huge amount of revenue is lost due to electricity theft. In some countries this is so
severe that governments are incurring losses instead of revenue. In some cases government has
to provide subsidies to the power sector to maintain a reasonable price of electricity. The
financial loss results in shortage of funds for investments to expand the existing power capacity
and as a result governments are failing to satisfy the ever increasing demand of electricity. In
some cases this problem has become so extreme that the affected power systems are near
bankrupt. Power theft is a concerned issue even in the most efficient power systems like in USA
and moderately efficient system like in Malaysia. However, in developing and under developed
countries the practice of power theft is so common that it is often kept out of discussion.
Electricity theft includes tampering meters to show a low meter reading, stealing electricity

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bypassing a meter, billing irregularities and unpaid bills. Billing irregularities comprise
inaccurate meter reading taken by bribed service man and intentional fixing of the bill by office
staffs in exchange of illicit payments from the consumer. Different non-technical and technical
methods were proposed in the past to detect electricity pilfering. Non-technical methods may
include inspection of the customers with suspicious load profile. Although periodic inspection
can substantially reduce theft, such measure requires large manpower and huge labour. Such
effort also fails in most cases due to the dishonesty of the staffs. Some of the technical ways to
detect pilferage are use of central observer meter at secondary terminals of distribution
transformer, harmonic generator, genetic support vector machines, extreme learning machine,
and power line impedance technique. However, these technical approaches can be effectively
implemented only if proper communication is ensured between the central control station and the
appropriate test points.
Electricity is indiscipline to our daily life with increasing need of electricity the power theft is
also increasing. Power theft is a problem that continues to plague power sector across the whole
country. An electricity theft is one form of nontechnical loss, it can be in the form of
meter tampering, stealing or illegal connections, billing irregularities, and unpaid bills. The
financial impacts of theft are reduced income from the sale of electricity. This illegal electricity
usage may indirectly affect the utility company and the economic status of a country also.

However, since electricity is indispensable to domestic and industrial development activities of a

nation, thus it needs to be protected and monitored for effective and efficient power delivery to
the consumers. Merely generating more power is not enough to meet present day requirements.
Power consumption and losses have to be closely monitored so that the generated power is
utilized in an efficient manner. Thus, the application of intelligent control in electrical system
can improve the power quality to a great extent, at the same time it can prevent a lot of illegal
activities. Improving quality in power is indeed an important requirement for our future.
Hence this establishment of automatic intelligence in power systems will be a great
improvement.

A design of electricity theft monitoring system has been generated. It saves time as well as help
to maximize profit margin for utility company working in electrical distribution network.
Utility company can keep a constant eye on its costumer. This project provides an overview of

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GSM based efficient and effective Power Management. Now a day the problem of electricity
theft has increased in rural areas and in industrial parks. Also these thefts are quite noticeable
in urban houses too. As a solution to this problem, an electronic system that can control
this is of great requirement. This project adds a new security measure to such type of electricity
theft control. The design is compact enough to setup this system in houses and industries.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Electricity theft has emerged as a serious problem in power sectors especially in the
developing countries. A huge amount of revenue is lost due to electricity theft. In some countries
this is so severe that governments are incurring losses instead of revenue. In some cases
government has to provide subsidies to the power sector to maintain a reasonable price of
electricity. The financial loss results in shortage of funds for investments to expand the existing
power capacity and as a result governments are failing to satisfy the ever increasing demand of
electricity. In some cases this problem has become so extreme that the affected power systems
are near bankrupt. Power theft is a concerned issue even in the most efficient power systems like
in USA and moderately efficient system like in Malaysia. However, in developing and under
developed countries the practice of power theft is so common that it is often kept out of
discussion. Electricity theft includes tampering meters to show a low meter reading,
stealing electricity bypassing a meter, billing irregularities and unpaid bills. Billing
irregularities comprise inaccurate meter reading taken by bribed service man and intentional
fixing of the bill by office staffs in exchange of illicit payments from the consumer. Different
non-technical and technical methods were proposed in the past to detect electricity pilfering.
Although periodic inspection can substantially reduce theft, such measure requires large
manpower and huge labor. Such effort also fails in most cases due to the dishonesty of the staffs.
Some of the technical ways to detect pilferage are use of central observer meter at secondary
terminals of distribution transformer, harmonic generator, genetic support vector machines,
extreme learning machine, and power line impedance technique. However, these technical
approaches can be effectively implemented only if proper communication is ensured
between the central control station and the appropriate test points. Electricity theft, which is the
practice of using electricity from the utility company without the Company‟s authorization or
consent, is a major problem challenging power utilities worldwide. Electrical theft could be

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informed of billing irregularities, meter tampering and unpaid bills. But the most prominent
include illegal Connection and meter tampering. Various ways of tampering the meter has been
elucidated. However, since electricity is indispensable to domestic and industrial
development activities of a Nation, thus it needs to be protected and monitored for effective
and efficient power delivery to Consumers. Basically, electricity theft often resulted to
overloading of the generation units and this adversely affects the utility company in terms of
revenue. In addition, electricity theft raises safety concerns Such as electric shocks leading
to death and maiming of personnel‟s, hence the need to prevent and minimize the adverse
impact of electricity theft has attracted the interest of this study. An Electricity meter or
Energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electrical energy consumed by a residence,
commercial and industrial, or an electrically powered device. Electricity meters are typically
calibrated in billing units, the most common one being the kilowatt hour. One of the major
challenges in energy mater in recent time is the detection elimination electricity theft. However,
the previous theft control system is manual. That is moving from house to house in monitoring
the power.

Other than the loss of revenue to the utility provider, power theft also has adverse effects on
consumers and society. One effect to consumers is the increase in the fees paid by consumers
who pay for power. For example, a consumer may be billed for power based upon the amount of
power consumed. The cost of producing and delivering power is passed on to the consumer and
determines, in part, the rates charged for power. As a result, the paying consumer ends up
subsidizing the power thief by paying the thief's share of the power costs. A less apparent effect
is that a thief receiving some power for free is not billed accurately for all of their power
consumption. In effect the thief is getting power at a lesser charge. Therefore, the thief does not
have the same motivation to conserve power, which, in the aggregate, may impact the
environment. One of the challenges in stopping power theft is the difficulty in detecting power
theft. In particular it is difficult to obtain data which identifies specific locations where power
theft is occurring.
Customers of the electricity vendor must obey the rules and the regulation of the vendors. This
obviously makes the customer to be in touch with the electricity supplier. One of the rules that
should respect might be legal usage of electrical power. But this rule might not be respected due
to inability to payback the used electricity to escape from huge utility bills, Weak economic
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situation in many countries has implied its effect directly on common Man, Countries with weak
enforcement of law against electricity and Corrupt political leaders and employees of the utility
company are responsible for billing irregularities. This usage of electricity could come up with
sever negative effects. Primarily, electricity theft affects the utility company and then its
customers. In energy market, utility companies expect their money back from the customers for
the electricity supplied, most of which is lost by them due to the NTL (Non-technical
losses).Electricity theft is a serious concern for utility companies as they are under threat of
survival because of these incurring economic losses. For these theft mechanisms we designed
a system to overcome these challenges. That is GSM based power theft control system. This
system detects theft without any human intervention, So that the vendor can simply notice via
SMS message and can also take corrective mechanism where the problem is occurred.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General objectives

To design and implement GSM based power theft control system to notify the power theft for
electricity utility power supplier via SMS message.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

• To design power supply circuit for current and voltage measurement/sensing circuit

• To provide a valid understanding of microcontroller as well as its interfacing to other input/output

devices

• To check, verify and simulate the system in proteus software

• To gather information (DATA) from different sources.

1.4 Methodology
For successful completion of this project some steps will be followed to carry out different tasks.
 Problem identification: clearly stating of the problem about this area
 Literature Reviewing: This includes reading books and documents on related areas.
 System modeling: Combining different components to describe the system.
 System analysis and simulation: This indicates how the system behaves using proteus.

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  Proposing Solution: designing of power theft control system in order to use power
wisely.

Then after, write documentation report to complete our project.

Problem Literatur Data System Softw

Simul
Identific e Collecti model are
ation
ation Review on design design

Figure 1.1: block diagram of working methodology

1.5 Scope and Contribution of the Project

The scope of this project is to develop continuous protection and control system for power theft
based on Arduino. All the sensors are used to acquire data from the consumers and transfer the
data they acquire to Arduino Uno microcontroller board.

Finally, we give highest emphasis to the software design and implementation in order to develop
a suitable algorithm that will promptly interact with the, microcontroller and the LCD.
This contributes to detect, control and trip the system as soon as fault occur so as to reduce man
power required which saves time and energy.

Major contribution of the project:

 To reduce man power required
 To detect and neutralize as soon as the person attempt steal power.
 To reduce unforeseen expenditure due to power theft.
 To save wastage of time.

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1.6 Thesis Organization
Chapter 1: This is all about introduction. We tried to discuss about the background
of the project, the scope that our project encompasses, the statements of the problem that
initiate us to do such a system as well as the scope of the system and the methodologies that
we follow.

Chapter 2: In this chapter literature reviews and comparing our work with others have
been discussed.

Chapter 3: Discusses about the overall system description with block diagram of system
component and flow chart; way of power theft by energy meter and their proposed solution and
overall system design and analysis.

Chapter 4: This chapter contains discussion and software simulation result of the design.

Chapter 5: This chapter contains Conclusion and Recommendations for future work

Appendix: Source code.

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 Chapter Two
Literature Review
A constituency has been proposed to be created through effective communication with
important stakeholders, institutionalization of new business processes that adopt modern
technology, and improvisation of management information systems. Periodic inspection of
illegal connections involves a lot of labor and strain for vigilant officials. The shunts detecting
equipment proposed is time efficient and helps in the detection of electricity theft in underground
distribution cables. Revenue Assurance and Audit Process is composed of macro-functions to
detect and analyze revenues involved in illegal consumption of electricity. Several technical
measures were also implemented in order to detect and help utilities in their battle
against NTL. GE has patented an energy meter that reads electricity consumption correctly, even
if the in-going and out coming meter terminals are reversed. This invention stopped illegal
consumers from using their energy meter in the reverse direction to reduce their utility
bill. Installation of a prepaid energy meter can be a solution to monitor the distribution system
and control electricity theft. Location of electricity theft on a distribution feeder can be detected
based on the values of the phase angle and impedance of the transmission lines at two different
operating frequencies respectively. The value of energy read by the central observer meter
is compared with the sum of energy consumption values read by all energy meters in range.
These two values of the current are compared to estimate the total electricity that is being
consumed illegally.

Vigilant Energy Metering System is a proposed energy metering system that can fight electricity
theft. It has the ability to collect, transfer and process data between other energy meters, local
station and base station. It also identifies probable locations of theft and helps the utilities to
control theft. A remote billing system can also be developed modifying this model. Illegal
consumption of electricity can be detected by using a remote check meter based on the amount of
losses and time stamp of the check meter. This method is implemented before inspecting the
illegal consumers personally by the vigilance officials, based on the data at the proper frequency
of the consumer measurements. A microcontroller based energy meter gives utilities the ability
to monitor and control the power supply of its spatially distributed consumers. This meter acts as
a check meter that helps detect maters that have been tampered. This paper discusses the problem

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of electricity theft as well as proposed a new method for its prediction and detection. The
proposed method has the following advantages over the existing schemes, which are out lined
here under. The need for the disconnection of power supply before no longer taken care of by
the electrical workers because the proposed theft control system automatically disconnects
it when the consumers steal electricity.

Each customer equipment provides the energy consumption to the MCIC that keeps the details of
individual users. The meter tampering is easily detected by this approach. But the
implementation cost is high. This paper discusses simulations and models based on data from
pre-paid meters in order to determine the feasibility and method of Operation for remote check
meter. The resolution of illegal consumers detected depends on the deviation of the losses and
the connected time of the check meter [2].this report gives only the simulation result. It would be
the better method for minimum amount of users. The further improvements to detect the
electricity theft lead to grouping of customers by means of Support Vector Machine (SVM) [3].
This methodology insists data processing and data mining methods to detect the customers with
abnormal consumption of electricity. It involves many complicated mathematical calculations
that may provide erroneous results and can detect only 60% fraudulent customers. The previous
methodologies are apt for the traditional power systems.

Aryadevi Remanidevi Devidas [4] proposed a wireless sensor network for remote monitoring
and optimizing electric transmission in India. This will reduce the energy wastage and save lot of
energy for future use. Even this is an advanced technology it cannot cover the remote area. In
order to check out the wide area real time investigation is needed [5]. This paper defines the spot
monitoring of the energy meters to verify whether the electricity theft has happened or not. It
continuously compares the determined meter reading with the traditional meter reading to avoid
relaying of the values. The above mentioned methodology doesn‟t give the exact theft detection
criteria. Better analysis of about technical and non-technical losses will provide the electricity
theft measures [6]. This paper implements black tracking algorithm to determine the power
deviation between the meter data and delivered power data. In this idea, the malfunctioned
consumer‟s power supply will be turned off. The detection of exact theft location is somewhat
harder when we talk about the previous methods.

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In this project GSM modules are used to transmit the information about power theft to utility
company. The main aim of this work is to use the GSM network alongside in reducing theft and
losses. This also can be used to disconnect the power supply to the house in case of electricity
theft. In case of tampering, it immediately sends signal to the central server of the utilities.
Another advantage of the GSM is that it enables the utility engineers efficiently plan for network
expansion while delivering.

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 Chapter Three
3. System Design and Analysis
3.1 Monitoring and Controlling System
The design model is based on the analysis and architectural requirements of the system.
It represents the application components and determines their appropriate placement and
use within the overall architecture. In the design model, packages contain the design elements of
the system, such as design classes, interfaces, and design subsystems, that evolve from
the analysis classes. Each package can contain any number of sub packages that further partition
the contained design elements. These architectural layers form the basis for a second level
organization of the elements that describe the specifications and implementation details of the
system.
To distribute power to consumers equally without power interruption, continuous monitoring and
controlling of the system is essential. Condition monitoring and controlling is defined as the
continuous evaluation of the health of the plant and equipment throughout its service life.
Condition Monitoring (CM) is taken to mean the use of advanced technologies in order
to determine equipment condition, and potentially predict failure. It is important to be able to
detect faults while they are still developing. This is called incipient failure detection. The
incipient detection of power failures also provides a safe operating environment. It is becoming
increasingly important to use comprehensive condition monitoring schemes for continuous
assessment of electrical condition of electrical machines. In addition it is also possible to
schedule future preventive maintenance and repair work.
This can result in minimum down time and optimum maintenance schedule. Condition
monitoring and fault diagnosis scheme allows the machine operator to have the necessary spare
parts before the system is stripped down there by reducing outage times. Therefore,
effective condition monitoring of electric power is critical in improving the reliability, safety and
productivity.

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 Load
Energy
N P meter

Relay
CURRENT I/V
TRANSFORMER converter
1
LCD
CURRENT I/V
TRANSFORMER converter ARDUINO
UNO R3
GSM
LDR

LED

Figure 3.1: System block diagram

To provide a solution to the problems associated with the commercially available analog
meters as mentioned in the previous section, GSM based power theft control system is
designed. In this project two CTs are used: CT1 in phase line and CT2 in neutral line.
CT1 measures IP and CT2 measures IN. These values are converted dc and provided to the
ADC input of the microcontroller. We have written a program for the microcontroller to
compare these two values in Arduino language. If there is any difference between the
two values, microcontroller will detect the occurrence of power theft. Then the
microcontroller will detect and display the status on LCD module.
The LED will always be on and the light will fall upon the disc and the reflected light will be
received by the LDR. LDR will convert the received light into electrical voltage and transfer it to
the microcontroller. The micro controller receives the voltage value thereafter. At normal
condition, the disc keeps rotating and the LDR output voltage is always changing. If
someone attempts to tamper the meter by placing a magnet the received voltage of

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microcontroller will not change. The disc will not rotate in this case and therefore there will be
no change in the voltage from LDR to microcontroller. When microcontroller will not find any
change in the voltage from the LDR, then SMS message will send to Power Company by the
help of GSM modem and indicate the occurrence of theft. The power theft occurring at the same
time the load will disconnect the customer from service of the power because of trying to steal
the electricity on the block diagram of this project. GSM module is present and it helps or uses
to tell the power supplier or company power theft is happening.

3.2 Protection and Control System

3.2.1 Ways of Electricity Theft

Prior to the introduction of prepaid meter, various methods were proposed to detect electricity
theft which includes: inspection of suspicious load profile, though the method was good certain
drawbacks accruing to this method are the requirement of large manpower and huge labor, this
failed due to dishonesty of the service workers. A huge amount of money is lost due to theft, in
some countries; the government has to provide subsidies to the power sector to maintain a
reasonable price of electricity. The major problem facing the electricity industry in many
developing countries is poor revenue generation. This arises from illegal consumption of
electricity via mostly meter tampering and bypassing as well as direct connection to the low
voltage distribution lines.
Electricity thefts may occur in different forms. From available literature and practical daily
reports in the world, the common ways include bypassing (illegal tapping of electricity from the
feeder), meter tampering (by grounding the neutral wire as it does not measure readings) and
physical methods to evade payment of bills. The basic method of stealing electricity is a direct
wire-connection to a main power route passing a shop or a house so that electricity can flow to
the consumer without crossing the electric meter installed by a government agency which is
responsible for providing electrical services to customer. There are different types of theft done
all over the world. Huge amount of power theft are done by tapping from line or bypassing the
meter, According to a study 80% of the total theft detected all over the world is from residential
buildings and 20% from commercial and industrial premises.

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Tampering meter or fraud contributes to the most part of the losses in electric power
distribution sector. It can be done by an individual consumer or an expert professional. There are
several ways to bypass an energy meter. The sub sections of this section provide comprehensive
illustrations of the ways to tamper the commercial analog meters.
A. shorting the phase current coil
When, a consumer shorts the current coil of the meter the total current flows through the shorted
path, so the meter cannot detect the current flow through it. We know that electrical power is
given by the equation:
P=VI: where; P: stands for power absorbed or delivered
I: for current through the device
V: for voltage across the device
So, if the current coil of the meter is shorted here I=0 ultimately leading to P=0.
Therefore, the illegally connected load is not detected by the meter.

Figure 2.2: shortening the phase line (bypassing)

b. Disconnecting the neutral line

A more common method of tampering analog meter is disconnecting the neutral line. In
this condition, the meter cannot detect any voltage difference across the supply line and neutral

14
line. As V=0 here, power will be zero by according to P=VI formula. So, no energy consumption
will be shown by the meter.

Figure 3.3: disconnection the neutral line

C. Tampering using magnet

We know that Aluminum disk is revolving by the magnetic flux produced inside the device due
to current flow. If a magnet is kept in the path of this flux, the magnet interferes with the flow of
flux. So, the produced flux cannot help the aluminum disk rotate. In this case, the disk is stopped
or revolves slower producing less number of revolutions than that it should give. Therefore,
accurate energy consumption is not shown in the meter.

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 Figure 3.4: Tampering using magnet

3.2.2 Causes of Electricity Theft

All energy distribution companies operate with some accepted degree of losses. This is no
different from the scenario of Nigeria. The losses incurred are subdivided into two namely;
Technical losses and Non-technical losses.
(A) Technical losses: These are naturally occurring losses and consist mainly of power
dissipation in electrical system components such as transmission lines, power transformers,
measurement systems, etc. They are caused by the physical properties of the components of
power systems.
(B) Non-technical losses: These refer to those losses that are independent of technical losses in
the power system. The most prominent forms of non-technical losses in Ethiopia are electricity
theft and non-payment of bills. It can also be viewed as undetected load.
Theft is a serious crime, it creates short fall, increase of load, decrease of frequency, which is not
acceptable, causing load shedding and increase of tariff on the legal consumers. Some may argue
that the distribution companies providing services give; over-voltage, poor service and make
excess money thus, some theft will not affect its operations and profitability.

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Some localized catalyzing factors influencing electricity theft in Ethiopia include lack of
accountability in electricity market system, political protection of employees involved in
corruption, influential customers who do not pay their bills, absence of effective laws to abate
electricity related crimes and inadequate and ineffective enforcement of existing weak laws and
generally negative attitude of electricity customers. Electricity pilferage has its root in corruption
and bad governance. Customers attitude contribute a great deal to revenue losses. These attitudes
range from their ill-conceived feelings that electricity should be a welfare commodity and
therefore legitimate to steal from the state, to the generalization that the state is not incurring
losses. They do not have the fore-knowledge that the money realized from the payment of bills
are re-instated into the power sector for its improvement and development.

3.2.2 Techniques of Controlling Power Theft

1) Protection against shorting phase current coil
CT1 is used in series within phase side and CT2 in neutral side. If phase coil is shorted, the
current flows through the shorted path so the CT1 current is zero but CT2 current is not zero.
The output of the two current transformers enter bridge rectifier and a regulated current will
enter to the microcontroller. Our device works with the value of the difference between the
readings of two CTs. If the difference is occur between the two transformers microcontroller will
notify to power supplier via GSM.SMS message will send to Power Company by GSM modem.
2) Protection against disconnecting the neutral line
When the neutral line of the meter is opened with intention to tamper, no current flows through
the neutral line, So CT2 has no voltage. But CT1 has current. The difference between these two
voltage is transferred to the enter bridge rectifier and a regulated voltage will enter to
the microcontroller. If the difference is occur between the two transformers microcontroller will
notify to power supplier via GSM. SMS message will send to Power Company by GSM modem.
3) Protection against magnetically tampering
The aluminum disc of the meter is divided into four sectors each occupying same
amount of surface area. Two sectors are painted in black and rests are kept as they were before.
Among these four sectors two opposite sectors are of same color and the other two are without
any color in the proposed device an additional LED and LDR were used to prevent magnetic
tampering. The LED will always be on and the light will fall upon the disc and the reflected light

17
will be received by the LDR. LDR will convert the received light into electrical voltage and
transfer it to the microcontroller. The micro controller receives the voltage value thereafter. At
normal condition, the disc keeps rotating and the LDR output voltage is always changing.
If someone attempts to tamper the meter by placing a magnet the received voltage of
microcontroller will not change. The disc will not rotate in this case and therefore there will be
no change in the voltage from LDR to microcontroller. When microcontroller will not find any
change in the voltage from the LDR, then SMS message will send to Power Company by the
help of GSM modem and indicate the occurrence of theft.

3.3 System Components and Circuit Design

Based on the various reviews conducted on power theft control system and the above
block diagram which was conceived out of those literature reviews conducted, numbers of
components are required in developing the protection system.

3.3.1 Current transformer

Current transformers (CT's) provide a simple, inexpensive and yet accurate means of sensing
current flow in power conductors. They are available in 3 basic configurations:
1) Ring Core CT's are available for measuring currents from 50 to 5000 amps, with
windows (power conductor opening size) from 1" to 8" diameter.
2) Split Core CT's are available for measuring currents from 100 to 5000 amps, with windows
in varying sizes from 1" by 2" to 13" by 30". Split core CT‟s have one end removable so that
the load conductor or bus bar does not have to be disconnected to install the CT.
3) Wound Primary CT's are designed to measure currents from 1 amp to 100 amps. Since the
load current passes through primary windings in the CT, screw terminals are provided for the
load and secondary conductors. Wound primary CT's are available in ratios from 2.5:5 to
100:5 (Models 189 and 190 are examples of wound primary CT's). CT's used with watt
transducers enable the owner to control demand as well as monitor building and/or tenant
power consumption. When CT's are used with Current Transducers, the results are an
excellent method of diagnosing the performance of fans, pumps, chillers, etc. The
Model 4CMA and 4CTV Current Transducers provide alarms for each motor so the
owner is warned immediately of any abnormal operating condition. Low pump flows
will be alarmed if the strainer is dirty or the coupling is broken. Low fan flows will be

18
 alarmed if filters are dirty, belts are slipping, or dampers (fire, smoke, etc.) are closed. High
motor loads will alarm if bearings are dry or worn, or belts are out of alignment. CT‟s are
designed to handle motor inrush currents, so no extra precaution is needed to monitor motors.

CT Accuracy
A CT is most accurate at rated current with a low burden (load). Accuracy decreases with
increased burden (load) or low line current. In sizing CT's the conductor size and distance
is important. Improper sizing of current transformers or long secondary conductor runs
with undersized cable can result in poor accuracy. CT's that are used to monitor motor loads can
be sized from the nameplate full load motor amps.
Mounting CT's
CT's are generally located in the main breaker panel or in branch distribution panels where space
is always at a premium. Since CT's do not have to be installed 90 degrees to the conductor run
(the conductors can go through the CT at any angle) they are generally held in place
with plastic tie wraps. CT's with mounting feet are available if appearance is important and
there is enough room to accommodate this type of mounting arrangement.
For this project the current transformers were replaced by this simplified block diagram.

Current I/V conversion Step down

Rectifier Regulator
transformer

I/V conversion is used to convert the current sources to 230V voltage. But for simulation purpose
we can simply use voltage source.
The voltage we get from the main line is 230V AC but the other components of our circuit
require 5V DC. Hence a step-down transformer is used to get 12V AC which is later converted to
12V DC using a rectifier. The output of rectifier still contains some ripples even though it is a
DC signal due to which it is called as Pulsating DC. To remove the ripples and obtain smoothed
DC power filter circuits are used.
`A 5V regulated supply is taken as followed:

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 Figure 3.5: Block diagram of regulated power supply unit

Transformer
Transformer is the electrical device that converts one voltage to another with little loss of power.
Most power supplies use a step-down transformer to reduce the dangerously high mains voltage
to a safer low voltage. Here a step down transformer is used to get 12V AC from the supply i.e.
220V AC. To achieve this transformation, the relationship between the primary and the secondary
windings is given as:
Rectifiers
A rectifier is a circuit that converts AC signals to DC. A rectifier circuit is made using diodes.
There are two types of rectifier circuits as Half-wave rectifier and Full-wave rectifier depending
Upon the DC signal generated. Here Full-wave bridge rectifier is used to generate dc signal.
Smoothing
Smoothing is performed by a large value electrolytic capacitor connected across the DC supply
to act as reservoir, supplying current to the output when the varying DC voltage from the
rectifier is decreasing. The diagram shows the unsmoothed varying DC and the smoothed DC.
The capacitor charges quickly to the peak of the varying DC and then discharges as it supplies
current to the output. Here the capacitor of 470uF is used as a smoothing circuit.
Voltage regulation
Fixed voltage regulator78xx, produce fixed DC output voltage from variable DC (a small amount
of AC on it). Fixed output is obtained by connecting the voltage regulator at the output of the
filtered DC. It can also be used in circuits to get low DC voltage from high DC voltage.
Mathematical analysis
Bridge rectifier ripple voltage can be calculated as
V ripple=current load (I)/ f*C

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Where: I is the DC load current in amps, f is the frequency of the ripple
Twice the input frequency in Hertz, and C is the capacitance in Farads. In Ethiopian standard
Vs=220V Fs=50 Hz
V ripple =6*21/2 -2*Vd
=6*1.414-2*0.7= 7v
Fr=2*f source=100 Hz
VO=1.414*Vs=311.08
Ripple factor=Ripple/Vo*Fr=7/311.08*100=3%
From the data sheet 0f capacitor for 3% 0f ripple factor capacitor value is 0.01f
Where: Vd is the voltage drop on the diode
Fr is the ripple frequency
Then this ripple voltage converted in to 5v by using voltage regulator.

Figure 3.6: Simulated power supply

The power supply configuration consists of the transformer having a voltage rating of 12V AC,
which is the power source. It is responsible for stepping down this voltage to about 5V used in
the microcontroller. The transformer is thus interconnected to the bridge rectifier circuit which
converts the AC input power into DC output power. During the positive half-cycle of supply,

21
two series connected pair diodes of the four diodes conducts that is, it allows the flow of current
while the other two do not. During the negative half-cycle the two diodes which did not conduct
initially, conducts in this cycle whereas the other two do not conduct here.
This rectifier is suited for high voltage application because the peak inverse voltage during the
period of non-conduction is equal to the peak voltage. The capacitor performs the duty of
filtering ripples that is, disturbances and it blocks DC voltage. The light emitting diode (LED)
blinks at a faster rate if the load consumption increases while it blinks at a slower rate at less load
consumption thus, it is used for physical detection. Moreover, the 7805 voltage regulator
maintains the voltage level of the circuit at a rating of 5V to prevent burning of the circuit during
high voltage and damage during the occurrence of an open circuit.

3.3.2 Electric Energy Meter

An electric meter or energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electrical
energy consumed by a household, business organization, industry etc. Electric meters are
typically calibrated in billing units, the most common one being the kilowatt hour.
Periodic readings of electric meters establish billing cycles and energy used during a
cycle. There are two types of energy meter commonly used such as
1) Analog meter and
2) Digital meter.
1. Analog meter
The analog meter operates by counting the revolutions of an aluminum disc which is made to
show revolutions proportional to the energy consumption. CT (Current Transformer) measures
the phase current (IP) and PT (Potential Transformer) measures the phase voltage to calculate
energy consumption. The meter itself consumes a small amount of power, typically around 2
watts for operation. At normal condition, current flowing from the phase (IP) should be equal to
current returning through the neutral (IN).
2. Digital Energy Meters
Digital signal processor or high performance microprocessors are used in digital electric meters.
Voltage and current transducers are connected to a high resolution ADC. Once it converts analog
signals to digital samples, voltage and current samples are multiplied and integrated by
digital circuits to measure the energy consumed. It is programmed in such a way that it

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calculates energy according to the tariff and other parameters like power factor, maximum
demand, etc. and stores all these values in a nonvolatile memory EEPROM. It contains real time
clock (RTC) for calculating time for power integration, maximum demand calculations.
Furthermore it interacts with liquid crystal display (LCD), communication devices and other
meter outputs. Battery is provided for RTC and other significant peripherals for backup power.
Working principle of digital meter
Digital meters are advanced versions of the analog energy meters. They have more protective
options than analog meters have. It measures both IP and IN. IP is measured by taking the
voltage of a shunt resistor connected in series with the line and later converting it to
current in the microprocessor unit of the meter. IN is measured by the CT. At normal condition,
IP and IN are of equal value. This value along with the phase voltage value from the PT
is provided to the microprocessor unit inside the meter to calculate the amount of energy
consumed and shown in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). So, the operation is digital here
requiring no rotating disk.

3.3.3 Light depending resistor

LIGHT OR A PHOTO is a device whose resistivity is a function of the incident
electromagnetic radiation. Hence, they are light sensitive devices. They are also called as photo
conductors, photo conductive cells or simply photocells. They are made up of semiconductor
materials having high resistance.
Working Principle of LDR
A light dependent resistor works on the principle of photo conductivity. Photo conductivity is an
optical phenomenon in which the materials conductivity (Hence resistivity) reduces when light is
absorbed by the material when light falls i.e. when the photons fall on the device, the electrons
in the valence band of the semiconductor material are excited to the conduction band. These
photons in the incident light should have energy greater than the band gap of the semiconductor
material to make the electrons jump from the valence band to the conduction band. Hence when
light having enough energy is incident on the device more & more electrons are excited to the
conduction band which results in large number of charge carriers. The result of this process is
more and more current starts flowing and hence it is said that the resistance of the device has
decreased. This is the most common working principle of LDR.

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3.3.4 Relay
A relay is usually an electromechanical device that is actuated by an electrical current. Relays are
like remote-control switches and are used in many applications because of their relative
simplicity, long life, and proven high reliability. Relays are used in a wide variety of applications
throughout industry, such as in telephone exchanges, digital computers and automation
systems. Highly sophisticated relays are utilized to protect electric power systems against trouble
and power blackouts as well as to regulate and control the generation and distribution of
power. Although relays are generally associated with electrical circuitry, there are many
other types, such as pneumatic and hydraulic. Input may be electrical and output directly
mechanical, or vice versa.
Work principle of relay:
The working of a relay can be better understood by explaining the following diagram given
below.

Figure 3.7: Relay coil

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The diagram shows an inner section diagram of a relay. An iron core is surrounded by a control
coil. As shown, the power source is given to the electromagnet through a control switch
and through contacts to the load. When current starts flowing through the control coil, the
electromagnet starts energizing and thus intensifies the magnetic field. Thus the upper contact
arm starts to be attracted to the lower fixed arm and thus closes the contacts causing a short
circuit for the power to the load. On the other hand, if the relay was already de-energized when
the contacts were closed, then the contact move oppositely and make an open circuit. As soon as
the coil current is off, the movable armature will be returned by a force back to its initial
position. Relays are mainly made for two basic operations. One is low voltage application and
the other is high voltage. For low voltage applications, more preference will be given to
reduce the noise of the whole circuit. For high voltage applications, they are mainly
designed to reduce a phenomenon called arcing.

3.3.5 Microcontroller
Microcontroller is a small computer on single integrated circuits containing processor core,
memory and programmable input/output reference. For our project we choose Arduino UNO3
microcontroller, because it can easily interface with the system. Moreover it is easily
programmed for operation of desired performance.
The Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to serial driver
chip. Instead, it features the Atmega16U2 programmed as a USB-to serial converter. This
auxiliary microcontroller has its own USB boot loader, which allows advanced users to
reprogram it.
Therefore in order to achieve this task the Arduino mega microcontroller based on ATmega328
was chosen because of its suitability for this project such as speed, power consumption,
and universal synchronous asynchronous receiver transmitter (USART) functionality, in built
ADC, and amount of RAM and ROM on the chip.
Arduino Microcontroller
Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of physical world than
our desktop computer. It is an open source physical computing platform based on simple
microcontroller board and a development environment for writing software for the board.
Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects taking point from a variety of switches or

25
sensors an controlling a variety of lights, motor and other physical output. Arduino projects can
be standalone or they can be communicated with software running on our computer (eg flash,
processing, MAX MSp). The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the
open source IDE can be downloaded free.
The Arduino programming language is an implementation of Wiring, a similar physical
computing plat form, which is based on the Processing multimedia programming environment.
The Arduino Uno is a micro controller board based on AT mega 328.it has 14 digital input
/output pin (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs,6 analog inputs a 16 MHZ ceramic
resonator a USB connection, a power jack an ICSP haeder and a reset button. It contains
everything needed to support the micro controller; simply connect it a computer with a USB
cable or power it with a AC to DC adapter or battery to get started.

Feature of ATmega328 microcontroller

 Input voltage - 7-12V, 14 Digital I/O Pins (6 PWM outputs), 6 Analog Inputs, 32k Flash
Memory, 16Mhz Clock Speed
 The maximum values that Arduino can handle: Max frequency: 16MHz, Max Voltage:
5V, Max Current: 50m
 Using the high-speed micro-processing controller
 The development of language and development environment is very simple, easy
to understand, very suitable for beginners to learn.

Figure 3.8: Arduino Uno microcontroller

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The Arduino has several different kinds of pins, each of which is labeled on the board and used
for different functions.
GND (3): Short for „Ground‟. There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of which can be
used to ground your circuit.
5V (4) & 3.3V (5): As we might guess, the 5V pin supplies 5 volts of power, and the 3.3V pin
supplies 3.3 volts of power. Most of the simple components used with the Arduino run happily
off of 5 or 3.3 volts.
Analog (6): The area of pins under the „Analog In‟ label (A0 through A5 on the UNO) is Analog
In pins. These pins can read the signal from an analog sensor (like a temperature sensor) and
convert it into a digital value that we can read.
Digital (7): Across from the analog pins are the digital pins (0 through 13 on the UNO). These
pins can be used for both digital input (like telling if a button is pushed) and digital output (like
powering an LED).
PWM (8): the digital pins (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 on the UNO). These pins act as normal digital
pins, but it can also be used for something called Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM).
AREF (Stands for Analog Reference) (9): Most of the time you can leave this pin alone. It is
sometimes used to set an external reference voltage (between 0 and 5 Volts) as the upper limit
for the analog input pins.

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Table 3.1: Arduino Uno parameters

Microcontroller Arduino Uno

Operating voltage 5V
Input voltage(recommended) 7-12V
Input voltage(limits) 6-20V
Digital I/O pins 14(of which 6 provide PWM output)
Analog input pins 6
DC current per input output pin 40Ma
DC current for 3.3v pin 50Ma
Flash memory 32kb
SRAM 2kb
EEPROM 1kb
Clock speed 16MHz
Length 68.6 mm
Width 53.4 mm
Weight 25g

Functions and programs used in Arduino

I. pin Mode
Configures the specified pin to behave either as an input or an output Pin Mode (pin, mode) pin
the number of the pin whose mode you wish to set. Mode: either input or output.
II. Digital Read:
It reads the value from a specified digital pin, either HIGH or LOW. Digital Read (pin) pin: the
number of the digital pin you want to read (int)
III. Digital Write
Write a HIGH or a LOW value to a digital pin
IV. Analog Read
It reads the value from the specified analog pin. The Arduino board contains a 6 channel, 10-bit
analog to digital converter. This means that it will map input voltages between 0 and 5 volts into

28
integer values between 0 and 1023. This yields a resolution between readings of: 5 volts / 1024
units or, 4.9 mV per unit.
V. Analog Write
It writes an analog value (PWM wave) to a pin. After a call to analog Write, the pin will generate
a steady square wave of the specified duty cycle. The frequency of the PWM signal is
approximately 490 Hz. The Arduino IDE comes with a C / C++ library called “Wiring” (from
the project of the same name), which makes many common input/output operations much
easier. Arduino programs are written in C/C++, although users only need to define two functions
in order to make a runnable program: setup () – a function run once at the start of a program
which can be used for initializing settings, and loop () – a function called repeatedly until the
board is powered off. The code written in Arduino not be seen by a standard C++ compiler as a
valid program, so when the user clicks the “Upload to I/O board” button in the IDE, a copy of
the code is written to a temporary file with an extra include header at the top and a very
simple main () function at the bottom, to make it a valid C++ program. Since the IDE is pin
oriented, we can quickly achieve our desired logic and build a working model.

3.3.6 LCD display

LCD display is a flat display; electronic visual display that uses light modulating
property of liquid crystal. It can present a string, digits, and 7 segment displays as digital clock.
The LCD screen is more efficient and can be disposed of more safely than a
CRT(Cathode Ray Tube).There are different types of LCD display, we choose in our
project 16*2 type LCD to interface with the Arduino Uno microcontroller. The criteria
choosing this type is we need only to display the status and current but not the other parameters
so small LCD display is required. The liquid-crystal display has the distinct advantage of having
low power consumption than the LED. It is typically of the order of microwatts for the display
in comparison to the some order of mill watts for LEDs. Low power consumption requirement
has made it compatible with metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated logic circuit. Its
other advantages are its low cost, and good contrast. The main drawbacks of LCDs are
additional requirement of light source, a limited temperature range of operation (between
0 and 60° C), low reliability, short operating life, and poor visibility in low ambient
lighting, slow speed and the need for an AC drive.

29
 Figure 3.9: LCD Display
The LCD display consists of command registers such as RS, RW (read and write), E(enable),
data bus(D0, D1, D2,…..D7) and a 5V VDD and others pin is describe table blow.
Table 3.2: Pin description of LCD

Pin Name Description

no
1 VSS Power supply (GND)
2 VCC Power supply (+5V)
3 VEE Contrast adjust
4 RS 0 = Instruction input
1 = Data input
5 R/W 0 = Write to LCD module
1 = Read from LCD module
6 EN Enable signal
7 D0 Data bus line 0 (LSB
8 D1 Data bus line 1
9 D2 Data bus line 2
10 D3 Data bus line 3
11 D4 Data bus line 4
12 D5 Data bus line 5
13 D6 Data bus line 6
14 D7 Data bus line 7

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3.3.7 GSM Modem
A GSM modem is a specialized type of modem which accepts a SIM card, and operates over a
subscription to a mobile operator, just like a mobile phone. A GSM modem exposes an
interface that allows applications such as SMS to send and receive messages over the
modem interface. The mobile operator charges for this message sending and receiving as
if it was performed directly on a mobile phone. To perform these tasks, a GSM modem must
support asset” for sending/receiving SMS messages. Due to some compatibility issues that can
exist with mobile phones, using a dedicated GSM modem is usually preferable to a GSM mobile
phone. It should also be noted that not all phones support the modem interface for sending and
receiving SMS messages. In particular, most smart phones, including Blackberries phone and
Windows Mobile devices, do not support this GSM modem interface for sending and
receiving SMS messages at all.
Additionally, Nokia phones that use the S60 (Series 60) interface, which Is Symbian based, only
support sending SMS messages via the modem interface, and do not Support receiving SMS via
the modem interface. The Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network is a
cellular telecommunication Network with a versatile architecture complying with the ETSI
GSM 900/GSM 1800 standard. Siemens‟ implementation is the digital cellular mobile
communication system D900/1800/1900 that uses the very latest technology to meet every
requirement of the standard. SIM 900 is affixed cellular terminal (FCT) used for data
applications. It is a compact and portable terminal which satisfies various data communication
over GSM. It also can be connected to a computer with a standard RS232C serial port. SIM 900
offers features like short message service (SMS), data services (sending and receiving data files),
Fax service and data file connectivity through wire is not available or not possible. SIM 900 is
very easy to setup. It also finds its application in IT companies, banks, financial institutions etc.

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 Figure 3.10: GSM working
This diagram shows the flow of the data via a GSM module. The first embedded device is
the microcontroller which sends the data to the module. The module then via wireless link will
send the data to the GSM receiver in mobile phone. The mobile phone here acts as a second
embedded device which reads the data more and more applications emerged with the rapid
development of wireless data services, such as meter navigation, remote monitoring,
wireless Internet access, wireless point of sale (POS) etc. Thus, more and more devices
need to be able to do wireless communication.
Instruction of GSM modem
AT commands: AT commands are the instructions used for controlling a modem. AT stands for
Attention. Each and every command line starts with "AT" or "at". Because of this modem
commands are called AT commands. Many of the commands are also used for controlling wired
dial-up modems. These are supported by GSM/GPRS modems and mobile phones. Apart from
this common AT command set, GSM/GPRS modems and mobile phones also support an AT
command sets which are specific to the GSM technology, which also includes SMS-related
commands.
Basic Commands and Extended Commands
There are two types of AT commands: They are basic commands and extended commands.
a) Basic commands are AT commands that do not start with "+". For example, D (Dial),

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A (Answer), H (Hook control) and O (Return to online data state) are basic commands.
b) Extended commands are AT commands that start with "+". All GSM AT commands are
extended commands. For example, +CMGS (Send SMS message), +CMSS (Send SMS
message from storage), +CMGL (List SMS messages) and +CMGR (Read SMS messages)
are extended commands.
Operation of GSM
AT commands are used by the computers to control modems. Both the GSM modems and dialup
modems support a fixed set of standard AT commands. GSM modem can be used like a dial-up
modem. Apart from the standard AT commands, GSM modems also support an extended set of
AT commands. These extended set of AT commands are defined in the GSM standards.
With the extended AT commands, several things are done:
 To read, write and delete SMS messages
 To send SMS messages
 To monitor the signal strength
 To monitor the charging status and charge level of the battery
 Reading, writing and searching phone book entries
 The number of SMS messages processed by a GSM modem per minute is very low only
six to ten SMS messages per minute.
GSM Network
Utilizing an existing cellular network for data transportation requires no additional equipment or
software, resulting in a significant savings in both time and capital. Cellular technology utilizes
an encryption technique to prevent an outside source from receiving the transmitted data.
The cellular network provides full two-way communications, allowing scheduled reads, demand
reads, alarm and event reporting, power outage reporting and power restoration reporting.

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 Chapter Four
4. Result and Discussion
This chapter discusses about the simulation results of power theft monitoring and controlling
system. Simulation software is based on the process of modeling a real phenomenon with
a set of mathematical formulas. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an
operation through simulation without actually performing that operation. In this project, power
theft monitoring, controlling and protection using a microcontroller is proposed. A current
sensing circuit and voltage sensing circuits were designed and the results have been verified with
proteus software. The Fig4.2 represents the complete view of the Proteus Software
implementation of the system.

Simulations have been conducted on the present method where the technique is implemented
successfully and there is a proper maintenance of the communication in the form of the bi
directional scenario using the module of the GSM under the provision of the SMS and the
facility of the SMS plays a crucial role in terms of the refilling of the account of the customer
respectively. The method is effective and efficient in terms of the performance followed by the
outcome of the entire system in a well oriented fashion respectively. The Fig4.2 represents the
complete view of the Proteus Software implementation of the system.

34
4.1 System Flow Chart

Start

Read phase and Activate LDR sensor

neutral current

Arduino will compare

two values Is intensity of
light varies
continuously

Is there a
NO
difference? YES
NO
YES

Display power theft LCD display no

power theft

GSM module send

message to the supplier

Relay will trip the load

Stop

Figure 4.1: System flow chart

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4.2 Proteus VSM
We simulate the prototype in Proteus. Proteus Virtual System Modeling (VSM) combines mixed
mode SPICE circuit simulation, animated components and microprocessor models to facilitate
simulation of complete microcontroller based designs. Proteus VSM uses our proven Schematic
Capture software to provide the environment for design entry and development. Proteus capture
is a long established product and combines ease of use with powerful editing tools. It is capable
of supporting schematic capture for simulation. The Proteus schematic capture module also
provides a very high degree of control over the drawing appearance. These capabilities are used
to the full in providing the graphics necessary for circuit animation.
The Proteus design enables us to progress in our project more rapid, giving us the ability to make
hardware or software changes which reduces hardware and software troubleshooting problems.

The project was built and tested in Proteus just by using the software prototype
components without using the physical hardware prototype. Therefore using Proteus
software, the voltage sensing circuit, current sensing circuits, , relays, LED‟s, LCD display and
serial communication were all developed and tested as shown figure 4.2 and 4.3.

4.3 Schematic Diagram

Our project deal with automatic reading and theft control system. In this system a micro
controller is interfaced with an energy metering circuit, GSM communication link and a relay to
make or break power line. As designed in chapter 2, the circuit section consists of different
components for different purpose. Arduino UNO microcontroller is used for programming and
control, step down transformer circuit for voltage sensing, current sensing circuit used to get 12V
ac from 230V ac, rectifier is used to get 12Vdc, relay is used for breaking the circuit, LDR is
used to convert incoming light signal in to voltage. GSM is used for communication purpose.
The power circuitry converts 230 volt ac to 12 volt dc with the use of step down transformer and
bridge rectifier. The LCD is interfaced to microcontroller using parallel port connection. In this
project the microcontroller based system continually records the readings and live the meter.
Reading can be sent to the electricity department on request. This system also can be used to
disconnect the load to the power supply in case of illegal use of power or when the costumer
attempts to steal power. A dedicated GSM modem with SIM card is required for each energy
meter. The microcontroller pulls the SMS received by phone, decodes it, recognizes the mobile

36
number and then switches on the relay attached to its port to control the appliances. After
successful operation, the controller sends back the acknowledgement to the user‟s mobile
through SMS.
In case of any theft between the service line and the energy meter the microcontroller will on the
LED for necessary action. So, this process brings a solution of creating awareness on
unnecessary wastage of power and will tend to reduce wastage of power. The coding emphasis
reduces human labor and increases the efficiency of power used in the electricity company. This
module will reduce the burden of energy providing by establishing the connection easily and no
power theft will take place.
The circuit diagram is used to detect whether electricity theft is occur on not on a given
customer. As shown in fig.4.2 two current transformers are used one side is connecting series on
the phase line (P) while the second current transformer is connect on the line that out from the
load line or the neutral line (N).. The single phase line will feed to the energy meter.
Those two current transformers are used to measure the amount of current and voltage that
passes to energy meter. When someone try to use the electricity illegally the circuit will
automatically tell the power supplier using GSM modem and disconnect the customer
service using relay. In addition this system also display on the LCD to customer electricity
theft is happened on his/her home. Even this project is comfort for not only for literacy but also
for illiteracy that can‟t read from the LCD using red LED will automatically glow due to the
electricity theft. ARDUINO UNO R3 microcontroller will not work for 220V AC voltage
source we have used our power electronics knowledge for converting 220V AC voltage to
5V DC using single phase full wave bridge rectifier. Single phase Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
uses four individual rectifying diodes connected in a closed loop “bridge” configuration to
produce the desired output. The main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not
require a special Centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing its size and cost. The single
secondary winding is connected to one side of the diode bridge network and the load to
the other side. The four diodes labeled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only
two diodes conducting current during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle of
the supply, diodes D1 and D2 conduct in series while diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased
and the current flows through the load. During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes D3
and D4 conduct in series, but diodes D1 and D2 switch “OFF” as they are now reverse

37
biased. The Smoothing Capacitor of the single phase half-wave rectifier produces an output wave
every half cycle and that it was not practical to use this type of circuit to produce a steady DC
supply. The full-wave bridge rectifier however, gives us a greater mean DC value (0.637 Vmax)
with less super imposed ripple while the output waveform is twice that of the frequency of
the input supply frequency. We can therefore increase its average DC output level even
higher by connecting a suitable smoothing capacitor across the output of the bridge circuit.
The smoothing capacitor converts the full-wave rippled output of the rectifier into a smooth DC
output voltage. Generally for DC power supply circuits the smoothing capacitor is an Aluminum
Electrolytic type that has a capacitance value of 100uF or more with repeated DC
voltage pulses from the rectifier charging up the capacitor to peak voltage. Too low a
capacitance value and the capacitor has little effect on the output waveform. But if the smoothing
capacitor is sufficiently large enough (parallel capacitors can be used) and the load current is not
too large, the output voltage will be almost as smooth as pure DC.

Figure 4.2: Simulation circuit with no power theft

The same is true for the second current transformer. Therefore ARDUINO UNO R3 will read the
two analog signals then will compare and if there is a difference in reading of the two,

38
microcontroller putting the two values of the current transformer and if and only if the electricity
theft cannot occur if both current transformers are equal unless otherwise reading difference in
both current transformers electricity theft is happened as a result the ARDUINO UNO R3 will
tell by send short message to power supplier electricity theft is happened using GSM modem
consequently ARDUINO UNO R3 will disconnect the load using relay. Red LED will glow
when electricity theft is happening.

Figure 4.3: simulation circuit with power theft

39
 Chapter Five
5. Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Conclusion
The design, simulation and construction of a GSM-based power theft have been achieved. It
characterized various forms of electricity theft which include unaccountability of servicemen,
irregularities of billing leading to a reduction of funds by the utility companies has also been
achieved as this work prevents one on one contact between the end user and the workers. With
remote monitoring of the meter reading and sending SMS whenever there is abnormal readings
in the customer electricity meter, the developed system may able to help Utilities reduce the
incidences of household electricity theft.

An automatic circuit breaker may be integrated to the unit so as to remotely cut off the power
supply to the house or consumer who tries to indulge in power theft. This system design mainly
concentrates on single phase electrical distribution system.
Automation of the customer billing system has been achieved as the meter keeps track of the
consumers load on a timely basis. This design, therefore, removes the manual reading of meters
with its attached consequences of time consuming system and bill manipulation which reduces
remove generation by utilities while adding higher bills to the consumer.
The work also revolves around the automatic disconnection and connection when the recharge is
low or high respectively and extra cost due to reconnection is removed.

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5.2 Recommendation
Any work and investigation on power theft control system is very advantageous and challenging.
Based on the present time, it can be observed that the world‟s population is increasing rapidly.
Therefore demands on electricity will be high and these will lead to demands of highly
sophisticated protection and control system.
The proposed system is only for single phase users. Our future scope is to make this system for
three phase (Industrial and Domestical) users. Further we can concentrate on the bill payment
through online or through mobile automatically using E-billing techniques.
A computer that displays the meter number (specific position) at the Power distribution station
should have to be implemented, whenever there is a power theft.
Further improvement will be needed in including miniaturized monitoring cameras in the
customer meter which will monitor physical activities around the meter in each household to
check other illegal acts that were not covered in this work. So this is not the end of the project
but rather is a step towards exploring other possibilities that it brings with it. We feel very happy
to work in such a challenging project which has tremendous application and possibilities.

Finally the next batch students also may participate in this project to achieve and expand the
goals to be performed in this project.

41
References
[1] Saptarshi De, Rahul Anand, A Naveen and Sirat Moinuddin,”emetering solution for
checking energy thefts and streamlining revenue collection in INDIA” IEEE 2003.
[2] W.A. Doorduin, H.du T. Mouton, R.Herman and H.J. Beukes “Feasibility study of
Electricity Theft detection using Mobile Remote Check Meters”, IEEE AFRICON 2004
[3] J. Nagi, K. S.Yap,S. K. Tiong, Member, IEEE, S. K. Ahmed, Member, IEEE, A. M.
Mohammad “Detection of Abnormalities and Electricity Theft using Genetic Support
Vector
Machines”, IEEE Xplore 2009.
4] Aryadevi Remanidevi Devidas, Maneesha Vinodini Rames, “Wireless Smart Grid Design
for Monitoring and Optimizing Electric Transmission in India”, Fourth International
Conference on Sensor Technologies and Applications 2009.
[5] Lijuan Chen, Xiaohui Xu, Chaoming Wang “Research on Antielectricity Stealing
Method Base on State Estimation”, IEEE, 2011.
[6] Solomon, Nunoo, Joseph C. Attachie, “A Methodology for the Design of an Electricity
Theft Monitoring System”, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 2011.

42
Appendix
Source code
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);
const int voltagpin = A0;
const int currentpin = A1;
const int ldrPin = A2;
const int relay =6;
const int ledpin =13;
int ldr =0;
int ldr_new =0;
void setup() {
// set up the LCD's number of columns and rows:
lcd.begin(16, 2);
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(ldrPin, INPUT);
// Print a message to the LCD.
Serial.print(" ");
pinMode(voltagpin, INPUT);
pinMode(currentpin, INPUT);
pinMode(relay, OUTPUT);
pinMode(ledpin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
long ct1, ct2;
ldr = analogRead(ldrPin);
int ct = analogRead(A0);
int ctt = analogRead(A1);
ct1 = (ct * 5)/1023;
ct2 = (ctt * 5)/1023;

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 lcd.setCursor(0 , 0);
lcd.print("CT1=");
lcd.print(ct1);
lcd.setCursor(8, 0);
lcd.print("CT2=");
lcd.print(ct2);
if (ldr == ldr_new ){
digitalWrite(ledpin , HIGH);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(ledpin , LOW);
}
if (ct1 == ct2){
digitalWrite(relay , HIGH);
delay(100);
lcd.setCursor(1, 1);
lcd.print("NO THEFT");
}
else
{
digitalWrite(relay, LOW);
delay(1000);
Serial.println("HELO MANAGER OF EEPCO");
Serial.println("POWER THEFT IS HAPPENNING!! ");
//delay(1000);
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("THEft is happning");
}
ldr_new = ldr;
}

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