MIDAS: Detection of Non-technical Losses in Electrical Consumption Using Neural Networks and Statistical Techniques

Abstract

Datamining has become increasingly common in both the public and private sectors. A non-technical loss is defined as any consumed energy or service which is not billed because of measurement equipment failure or ill-intentioned and fraudulent manipulation of said equipment. The detection of non-technical losses (which includes fraud detection) is a field where datamining has been applied successfully in recent times. However, the research in electrical companies is still limited, making it quite a new research topic. This paper describes a prototype for the detection of non-technical losses by means of two datamining techniques: neural networks and statistical studies. The methodologies developed were applied to two customer sets in Seville (Spain): a little town in the south (pop: 47,000) and hostelry sector. The results obtained were promising since new non-technical losses (verified by means of in-situ inspections) were detected through both methodologies with a high success rate.