Call For Paper Volume: V, Issue: 06 | JUNE 2026 | International Journal of Advanced Trends in Engineering and Management (IJATEM)
Volume | Issue | | Paper ID: ICNGECT_2026_041 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.59544/cxja2996/icngect26p41

Integrated Smart Monitoring System for Electricity Theft Prevention

M. Latha, P. Silambarasan, M. Soundar, K. Sriramsundar, S. Raagul

Electricity theft remains a major challenge in power distribution systems, causing revenue loss, grid instability, and safety hazards. These issues can be overcome by adopting smart meters, real-time monitoring, and GIS/AI-based analytics to detect abnormal consumption patterns. Implementing strict regulations, automated alerts, and community awareness further strengthens theft prevention and ensures reliable power delivery. Therefore, this project proposes a Geo-Integrated Monitoring System for Electricity Theft Prevention that combines real-time sensing, location tracking, and wireless communication to detect and prevent unauthorized power usage in distribution networks. The system is built around an ESP32 controller, which collects critical electrical parameters using sensors such as the SCT013 current sensor, ZMPT101B voltage sensor, hall-effect sensor, and a vibration sensor to monitor abnormal tampering or bypassing attempts. A GPS module is integrated to provide accurate geo-location data, enabling theft detection at the exact point of occurrence. The sensed data is transmitted through a NodeMCU ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, which relays voltage levels, coordinates, and possible theft indicators to a cloud-based IoT platform in real time.