IoT Based Electric Meter Reading, Billing, Theft Detection and Control

Abstract

In today’s era, electricity is one of the basic and most essential necessity for any human to lead one’s life. In conventional method, a meter reader who is authorized by the Electricity department visits the user’s house and notes down the consumed energy units and calculates the amount for the number of units consumed by the consumer. In this method problems may arise due to errors caused by meter reader; it is also time consuming and requires human labour, the most common problem is if meter not maintained properly in a safer place the meter reading becomes invisible as the dust particles settle over it by time. Automation of billing system is the solution to this problem. It can be achieved by incorporating microcontroller with energy meter. A database at the server stores all the details and will be accessible to the officials and users on demand. User can access his daily electricity consumption by using an android application or a website. Data which is sent by the meter to the server is provided with network security. If the user fails to follow the rules and regulations of the electricity board then the server will automatically cut the power supply. Electricity theft is the main problem which needs to be eliminated. This project suggests a method for effective power theft detection. If there is any power tapping between the distribution post and the user’s meter then power theft detection message will be sent to server. This system engages KEB office to assemble the bill and energy theft acknowledgement data normally without utilizing the man control. The data assembled at the customer premises are shared to KEB office through GSM. An LCD will exhibit the live readings at customer premises. The data is sent to the customer through SMS.