Nigerian develops technology to detect electricity bill manipulation

United States-based Nigerian Researcher and doctorate candidate at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Ayanfeoluwa Oluyomi, has developed a technology to detect any attempt to manipulate electricity and water bills.

The technology, he said, could be referred to as the cyber-physical system, which means the interaction between the physical world and the cyber world.
Speaking with journalists, yesterday, Oluyomi, who is a member of the Creative Research in Wireless Mobility and Networking (CRewMaN) lab, said: “Looking at the interaction of household water usage or the power usage of an individual house and collating those data, that is what I refer to as cyber-physical system”.

According to him, an anomaly in cyber-physical systems that has to do with detecting abnormalities, when it comes to systems like water distribution networks or electricity grid, can go all the way to smart transportation.

“There can be instances where people will want to manipulate the smart meter that measures the water or power usage in the house or reduce what the utility company would see from their end because whatever they see from their end is what they will use to bill the person, so an individual or group of persons may want to reduce what they are actually consuming so that they can pay a lesser bill at the expense of the utility company,” he explained. The researcher said his technology would detect manipulation as fast as possible to avert loss to individuals and utility companies.

“So, where I come in is that I want to detect these manipulations as fast as possible in the shortest amount of time to reduce the revenue loss for the utilities so that they can bill rightly and detect if there is a form of reduction in the actual usage.

“The benefits are for everyone involved in the consumption of electricity, water, or any other company that uses smart meters. It is also beneficial to utility companies. Where it impacts the consumers is that some persons will reduce their bill and increase another consumer’s bill so that the utility company may not notice a decline in their resources.

“This technology is not limited to electricity and water bills, it applies to any interaction of the human world and the computer world,” he noted.