An electric utility meter pedestal with provision for providing pre-construction power from underground service comprising an elongate support for a double compartment meter housing the upper portion of which accommodates a standard utility meter and the lower portion of which provides secure access to a pre-construction 110-volt duplex outlet and a breaker switch for that outlet. Access to the duplex outlet is made secure by virtue of an outer cover panel which can be put in place to fully cover and limit access to the outlet after the construction of the building has been complete. The 20 amp duplex outlet therefore provides 110 volt 20 amp service to workmen using tools during the construction phase as well as a convenient outdoor outlet for the homeowner after construction is complete.

Techniques for identifying electrical theft are described herein. In an example, a secondary voltage of a transformer may be inferred by repeated voltage and current measurement at each meter associated with the transformer. A difference in measured voltage values, divided by a difference in measured current values, estimates impedance at the meter. The calculated impedance, together with measured voltage and current values, determine a voltage at the transformer secondary. Such voltages calculated by each meter associated with a transformer may be averaged, to indicate the transformer secondary voltage. A transformer having lower-than-expected secondary voltage is identified, based in part on comparison to the secondary voltages of other transformers. Each meter associated with the identified transformer may be evaluated to determine if the unexpected voltage is due to a load on the transformer. If a load did not result in the unexpected secondary voltage, power diversion may be reported.

At a switch terminal of a flyback converter in a discontinuous conduction mode in a power meter, an apparatus determines a resonant frequency of the flyback converter. The apparatus determines whether the resonant frequency satisfies a condition. Through a controller, the apparatus triggers an event responsive to determining that the resonant frequency satisfies the condition.

A centralising meter is connected to a data concentrator via a first powerline communication network and to remote basic meters via a second powerline communication network. The centralising meter emulates a smart electricity meter application with respect to the data concentrator for each remote basic meter, in order in particular to construct a corresponding load curve. When the ratio of an energy consumption declared by all the remote basic meters to an energy consumption measured by the centralising meter is below a predefined threshold and when furthermore a plurality of load curves show a drop to zero, a fraud is detected. The centralising meter compares total energy consumptions estimated from extrapolations of certain load curves with the measured energy consumption, to identify which remote basic meter is subject to the fraud.

This disclosure relates to a method and apparatuses for detecting and reporting suspected tampering of an energy meter to a utility. The method and apparatus uses a plurality of sensors to obtain data relating to one or more input parameters based on the type of input signal. The input parameters are mapped with a tamper type to provide a classification of one or more output parameters. The output parameters are compared to one or more operating conditions of the energy meter to identify one or more suspected tampers. Any suspected tampers are reported to the utility.

An electricity meter includes a housing including at least one housing element that is normally closed; a supercapacitor and a power supply circuit arranged to act, whenever the electricity meter is put into connection with electric power, to charge the supercapacitor; both a charge-maintaining circuit arranged to act, whenever the meter has been taken out of connection with electric power, to prevent the supercapacitor from discharging so long as the housing element remains closed, and also a discharge circuit arranged to discharge the supercapacitor in the event that the housing element is opened; a processor circuit arranged to act, after the meter is put back into connection with electric power and in the event that the supercapacitor is discharged, to detect that the housing element has been opened since the meter was taken out of connection with electric power.

A method, a system and a tangible product and non-transitory computer program are provided to automatically identify electrical installations in an electrical distribution system that are likely to exhibit an electrical non-conformity (ENC). The method requires only electrical profiles collected from meters and IT tools, without the need for any other sub-metering equipment. The method includes the steps of recovering electrical profiles generated by the meters; applying algorithmic processing associated with indicators of an ENC on the profiles; and identifying electrical installations likely to exhibit an ENC, according to the indicators that have met their target conditions. The method may include the recovery of local meteorological data and nominal data related to the electrical installations to confirm or deny that the identified electrical installations are likely to be non-conforming.

A circuit for controlling a switching power supply and a method for controlling a switching power supply by using the circuit for controlling the switching power supply, the circuit for controlling a switching power supply is configured to control a power stage circuit of a converter of the switching power supply. The circuit for controlling the switching power supply includes an external magnetic field direct detection unit, a current limit threshold unit, an operating frequency unit, a pulse width unit and a logic unit. The external magnetic field direct detection unit includes a Hall device and a Hall detection component. In accordance with the circuit for controlling the switching power supply of the present disclosure, the intensity of the external magnetic field can be detected directly at the chip level, and the operating mode of the switching power supply system can be adjusted timely.

A computer system analyzes data from smart meters. The computer system can, for example, analyze the data from a smart meter to determine if the smart meter is connected to a different distribution transformer, if the smart meter is at a customer site where power theft is occurring, if the smart meter is located at a customer site having a solar photovoltaic system, if the smart meter is located at a customer site having an electric vehicle, or if the smart meter is located at a grow house.

An electricity meter comprising an electrically-controlled electromechanical switch is disclosed. The electromechanical switch comprises a rotary actuator comprising a generally-cylindrical permanent magnet rotor having a central axis, a stator comprising a closed stator core and first and second opposite stator poles inwardly-projecting from the closed stator core towards the rotor and first and second coils wound around the first and second stator poles respectively. The electromechanical switch comprises a switch comprising at least one pair of first and second contacts wherein the first contact is movable. The electromechanical switch comprises mechanical linkage between the rotary actuator and the movable contact(s) configured such that rotation of the rotor from a first angular position to a second angular position causes the switch to be opened, and rotation from the second angular position to the first angular position causes the switch to be closed.