Republic Act No.

7832:
Anti-Electricity and
Electric Transmission
Lines/Materials Pilferage
Act of 1994

ELECTRICITY THEFT
-

revenue losses
affect quality of supply
less reliable power service
electrical overload
safety hazards

ELECTRICITY THEFT
- occur most commonly at
low voltage lines,
transformer, meter
- meters: tampering, bypassing, damaging or
removing
- wires/cables: tapping to
bare wires or underground

ELECTRICITY THEFT
-

direct hooking from line

bypassing the energy meter
injecting foreign element
physical obstruction

Republic Act No. 7832

Anti-Electricity and Electric
Transmission Lines/Materials
Pilferage Act of 1994

Illegal Use of Electricity

- tap, make or cause to be made any
connection with:
- overhead lines, service drops or other
electric service wires
- existing electric service facilities of any
duly registered customer
- tamper or use tampered devices
- damage or destroy devices
VIOLATION: P10,000-20,000

Theft of Electric Power

Transmission Lines and Materials

Electrical power transmission

line/material:
electric power transmission steel
towers, woodpoles, cables, wires,
insulators, line hardwares,
conductors, etc. with minimum
69kV

Theft of Electric Power

Transmission Lines and Materials
- cut, saw, slice, separate, split, smelt
- take, carry away or remove or transfer
- store, possess or otherwise keep in his
premises, custody or control
- load, carry, ship or transfer without first
securing clearance/permit from its owner
/NPC
VIOLATION: P50,000-100,000

Prima Facie Evidence

A.
(i) bored hole on any part of the electric
meter
(ii) presence of elements inside the electric
meter
(iii) existence of any wiring connection
affecting the normal operation of the
electric meter
(iv) tampered, broken, or fake seal on the
meter; mutilated, altered, or tampered
meter recording chart or graph or
computerized chart, graph or log;

Prima Facie Evidence

A.
(vi) mutilation, alteration, reconnection,
disconnection, bypassing or tampering
(vii) destruction of, or attempt to destroy
(viii) acceptance of valuable consideration
by OR making of such an offer to any officer
or employee for not reporting instances
stated above
B. possession, control or custody of electric
power transmission line/ material

Prima Facie Evidence

Upon first encounter/sight:
(1) immediate disconnection by the electric
utility to such person after due notice,
(2) holding of preliminary investigation by
the prosecutor and the subsequent filing in
court of the pertinent information
(3) lifting of any temporary restraining
order or injunction which may have been
issued against a private electric utility or
rural electric cooperative

Incentives
Monetary reward:
P5,000.00

Disconnection of Electric Service

differential billing - amount to be charged
to the offender for the unbilled electricity
illegally consumed

Disconnection of Electric Service

(a) the highest recorded monthly
consumption within the five-year billing
period
(b) the estimated monthly consumption
(c) the higher consumption between the
average consumption before or after
highest drastic drop in consumption within
five-year billing period
(d) the highest recorded monthly
consumption within four (4) months after
time of discovery
(e) the result of theERB test during the

Disconnection of Electric Service

basis for determining the period to be
recovered by the differential billing,
(1) the time when there was an abrupt or
abnormal drop in consumption
(2) when there was change in his service
connection (change of meter, change of
seal or reconnection)

Electricity Theft Solutions

1. Smart meters
- tool to detect and record theft
- tamper proof
- sends a distress signal to notify user
- meter covers open alarm, reverse
current
alarm, phase unbalanced alarm

Electricity Theft Solutions

2. AMI topology (Advanced Metering
Infrastructure)
- detect unmetered consumption
(comparing sum meter with
downstream or branch/load meters
sum)
- detect excessive load (compare if
smart meter detects more than
allowed maximum load comsumption)

Electricity Theft Solutions

3. Analyzing Smart Meter Readings
Identify Theft Profiles:
consumption is lower/higher than usual
4. Managed Prepaid billing service
with disconnection ability

References
http://www.abernales.com/7832.htm
http://www.abernales.com/7832irr.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_electricity
http://www.slideshare.net/balasubramanyachandrashekariah/electricity-theft-is-smartmeter-a-soln
http://www.safeelectricity.org/information-center/library-of-articles/57-metertampering/124-paying-the-price-of-power-theft
http://www.centerpointenergy.com/cehe/safety/electricitytheft/
http://www.slideshare.net/sharique_64/electricity-theft-1
http://www.slideshare.net/balasubramanyachandrashekariah/electricity-theft-is-smartmeter-a-soln