Smart metering in EU and the energy theft problem

The existing power systems as well as the smart grids utilize a number of advanced computing, networking, and measurement technologies that improve their planning and operation targeting to a full automated system in terms of monitoring and control. As power systems become more complicated, they face a combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities and threats that are more targeted and sophisticated. Among them, the malicious activity, influencing the measuring devices, is of major importance since it can instantaneously result in the physical operation and reliability of the grid. Conventional and smart energy meters incorporated to power systems are the most vulnerable measuring devices. The problem of conventional or smart energy meter manipulation targeting to the influence of power system operation and reliability is known as the energy theft (ENT) problem. This problem has become of major importance in many countries all over the world. The energy theft mainly occurs in the transmission and distribution levels. In order to reduce the impact of the energy theft, there are many methods that have been proposed in the literature. This paper presents a review of smart metering in the European Union (EU) along with a classification and contribution analysis of the most cited ENT problem solutions published in the literature, while a bibliographic analysis concerning the impact of most cited authors, affiliations, and references is also conducted.