Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Employees of the security department of IDGC of Centre - Kostromaenergo division proved a fact of non-metered consumption of electricity with the help of a quadcopter.
In early September, during the inspection of the consumer’s scheme of connection and supply of the facility by a mobile inspection group consisting of workers from the electricity metering department and security personnel, a fact of non-metered consumption of electricity was found when inspecting the consumer’s metering point of LLC "KostromaStroyKomfort". When the mode of power consumption restriction was introduced at the request of PJSC "KSK", by means of disconnected and the sealed entry LV switch, the facility still consumed electricity - a car washer and other electrical equipment.
Upon careful examination of the supply cable, a probable place was established for unauthorized connection of the facility to the branch’s grid before the meter, which was located under the roof ridge of the building at an altitude of 7 metres from the surface of the earth. To confirm the assumption, a quadcopter DJI Pfantom 4 was used, photographs of which showed the presence of cable wiring. This served as evidence for the arrived police officer. On the basis of the facts provided, the consumer signed an act on non-contractual electricity consumption in the amount of 312,206.4 kWh for a total of 1,943,733.98 rubles. Materials on the theft of electricity were transferred to the police station to bring perpetrators to criminal or administrative responsibility.
"The quadcopter for the purpose of revealing the facts of unauthorized connection to the grid was used for the first time as an experiment that gave excellent results," comments Alexander Korotin, the deputy director for security and the head of the security department at IDGC of Centre - Kostromaenergo division. "Now we are actively using it, including searching for non-metered consumption in hard-to-reach places."
In addition, the quadcopter will be used to inspect closed areas in conditions of impeding the passage of the mobile group to power facilities, as well as attempts to uninstall the means of theft. Earlier, the technical device was used only to control clearing of ROWs and inspection of high-voltage lines, including in the swampy terrain.
