EnThM: Energy Theft Mitigation in Smart Grids using Hierarchical Verification of Metering Data

2026-05-24

AI Summary

Electricity theft poses a serious threat to the reliability and economic efficiency of smart grids. To address this challenge, this work proposes a lightweight, communication-efficient hierarchical verification mechanism that enables real-time authenticity validation of smart meter data within multi-level distribution architectures. The approach integrates statistical modeling based on cumulative means, rule-driven aggregate verification accounting for seasonal and diurnal patterns, and cryptographic security design. Experimental evaluation on standard datasets demonstrates that the proposed scheme achieves high detection accuracy, low computational overhead, and strong real-time performance, significantly outperforming existing methods.

Abstract

The advent of digital technologies has revolutionized traditional power distribution networks, transforming them into smart grids that are more reliable, efficient, and sustainable. Despite these advancements, electricity theft remains a significant threat to the effective operation of large electrical networks. To address this issue, we propose EnThM, a lightweight and communication-efficient scheme for real-time mitigation of power theft in smart grid systems. Our approach uses the hierarchical structure of the smart grid infrastructure to verify the authenticity of the metering data at multiple levels of the power distribution network. Our work focuses primarily on issues related to cryptographic security. The verification process involves statistically modeling the cumulative averages of the power usage data and applying rule-based checks on the aggregated power consumption at each level, while accounting for seasonal and daily consumption variations. The proposed method has been tested on benchmark consumption data, yielding high accuracy, efficient implementation, and real-time applicability.

Problem

• Energy Theft
• Smart Grids
• Metering Data
• Power Theft
• Electricity Theft

Innovation

• hierarchical verification
• energy theft mitigation
• smart grids
• metering data authenticity
• statistical modeling