$96 Billion Is Lost Every Year To Electricity Theft

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Electricity theft and other so-called "non-technical losses" total a staggering $96 billion per year globally. This problem is crippling utilities around the world, driving up prices for paying customers and often necessitating costly government subsidies. These non-technical losses – which include theft, fraud, billing errors and other issues – are now beginning to be addressed more aggressively by utilities, according to a new study published today by Northeast Group, LLC.

"Non-technical losses are often hidden costs and have received little public attention, but have enormous costs for utilities, customers and governments," according to Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. "This $96 billion problem not only results in higher prices for paying customers and costly government subsidies but also a public safety crisis in some countries with dangerous illegal power connections. In many countries, high non-technical losses threaten the financial sustainability of the electric utilities."

As electricity demand steadily increases, particularly in emerging markets, so are non-technical losses. But new solutions offered by numerous vendors are emerging to address this problem. Utilities are increasingly leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to combat electricity theft. Real-time data through smart metering and advanced grid sensors can provide utilities with a clearer picture of the losses on their systems. Sophisticated software and analytics are also now being applied to identify areas of concentrated electricity theft so utilities can address the problem.

The market for non-technical loss reduction solutions – or "revenue protection" as it is commonly known in the industry – spans the value chain of smart grid infrastructure segments. This includes large grid infrastructure and software vendors as well as metering-focused companies and niche players targeting this market. Some of the leading vendors include ABB, Accenture, Atos, Autogrid, Awesense, C3 IoT, Choice, GE, Honeywell, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Oracle, SAP, SAS, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Silver Spring Networks, SpaceTime Insight and others.

Northeast Group's Electricity Theft and Non-Technical Losses: Global Markets, Solutions and Vendors study comes with an accompanying dataset covering 125 countries and their individual non-technical losses in percentage and dollar terms. To order a copy of the study and dataset, please visit: www.northeast-group.com.

ABOUT: Northeast Group, LLC is a Washington, DC-based smart infrastructure market intelligence firm.

SOURCE Northeast Group, LLC

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