Combination of AI and smart meter data accurately detects tariff misuse, direct theft, meter tampering and other non-technical loss
Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) has adopted Bidgely’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Energy Theft Solution to enhance the discom’s energy theft detection and revenue leakage prevention strategies.
Bidgely’s AI technology, which analyzes smart meter data to flag anomalous behaviors and patterns in consumer energy usage, has already flagged over 136 potential cases of theft. All cases were inspected and an assessment was raised in almost 63 percent of the tariff misuse cases. In meter bypassing and night theft, while 51 percent of leads were found correct, successful bookings were made in 41 percent of the flagged cases. Overall, 57 percent were booked, all within just one month of usage. BSPHCL is also the first state utility in India to utilize advanced AI to mitigate theft-related and commercial losses.
“Investing in smart meters was the first step in modernizing our understanding of energy consumption. Next we are leveraging AI/ML data analytics that will take us to the next level to drive various use cases leveraging smart meter data like revenue leakage, demand forecasting, energy accounting, distribution network planning for grid assets and more, without depending on additional monitoring hardware or consumer indexing. This is where we are partnering with solution providers like Bidgely to deliver revenue leakage solutions and unlock the value of AI/ML driven data analytics for Bihar,” said Sanjeev Hans, CMD at Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited.
Rather than identifying theft top down from feeder to transformer and finally to customer level, Bidgely’s AI can process data at the individual level at a faster pace to reveal anomalous patterns consistent with partial or complete meter bypassing, bypassing of heavy appliances like air conditioning, night theft, meter tampering and tariff misuse – therefore ensuring revenue protection. Where traditional approaches to theft detection also require massive amounts of manual intervention, AI takes on that role to detect leakages in a fraction of the time.
Bidgely first demonstrated its Energy Theft Solution at India’s Powerthon 2022, a hackathon competition organized by the Ministry of Power, GoI, REC Ltd., and SINE incubation lab of IIT Bombay. Bidgely’s targeted approach will now help Bihar achieve greater loss reduction by reducing dependence on correct consumer indexing while simultaneously equipping field officers with pinpointed leads.
“Energy theft accounts for nearly 20 to 30 percent revenue loss for India’s state utilities, yet current strategies to plug leakages and book theft only yield on average 10 to 20 percent results,” said Abhay Gupta, CEO of Bidgely. “Instead of solely relying on local intelligence and on-site inspections, BSPHCL can now leverage AI technologies to detect energy theft faster and with greater precision. In addition to revenue savings, the saved labor hours can also drive enhanced services for consumers.”
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