Patent ID: 7467092

Claim:
A system for identifying utility theft for an entity under a Continuous Service Agreement with a utility company, where the utility service is never turned off such that the entity may legally use utility services while a premise is vacant, comprising: at least one property management system, wherein the at least one property management system is operable to receive tenant data associated with a property, wherein the tenant data includes at least one of a lease start date or actual move-in date and at least one of an expected move-out date or an actual move-out date for tenants occupying the premises of the entity; at least one utility service provider, wherein the utility service provider is operable to transmit utility data associated with the premise; a notification system in communication with the at least one property management system and at least one utility service provider, wherein the notification system is operable to: receive the tenant data, wherein the tenant data includes at least one of the lease start date or actual move-in date and at least one of an expected move-out date or the actual move-out date, from the at least one property management system via at least one network, wherein the tenant data identifies at least one tenant responsible for a utility service and the period of responsibility associated with a utility service account; receive utility data from the at least one utility service provider for the entity, and automatically compare at least one of the lease start date or the actual move-in date, and at least one of the expected move-out date or the actual move-out date to the utility data to identify the unauthorized use of utility services under the Continuous Service Agreement of the entity with at least one of the utility service providers; and a notification module, wherein the notification module is operable to provide one or more alerts identifying when the unauthorized use of utility services is detected.