New Artificial Intelligence software to detect theft in electricity

A new software based on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been developed by scientists to detect theft in electricity and meter missreadings. A problem that ails major developing countries. 

For the purpose of study a team of researchers from the University of Luxembourg took records of energy use of 3.6 million users in Brazil. The focus was on 200 million monthly readings  that was conducted by professional meter readers. 

According to research findings approximately 40 per cent of electricity supply is siphoned off by the tampering of electric meters. They then developed an algorithm that, after sifting through the readings, could recognise when energy use at aproperty was suspiciously low.

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Researchers verified their results with data on past inspections, checking if their tool was correctlyhighlighting potential cases of fraud or faulty metering. The most accurate versions of the system were able to identify problem cases just over 65 per cent of the time,'News Scientist' reported.

"This could help better target physical inspections of properties, which cost time and money and can also bedangerous," researchers said. "It could also offer insights for electricity suppliers elsewhere seeking to do a better job of reading your meter," they added. 

(With PTI inputs)