Patent ID: 7402993

Claim:
A method for detection of atypical electrical consumption patterns comprising: providing a meter for detecting consumption of electricity from a utility; connecting the meter to a primary supply line, the primary supply line supplying electricity to a plurality of transformers, each transformer feeding the electricity to a plurality of structures, the meter having a resolution or detecting variation from known consumption patterns in the primary supply line; monitoring the primary supply line at predetermined time intervals for consumption of electricity; collecting data for determining measures indicative of patterns of consumption; comparing the patterns of consumption to known consumption patterns for identifying suspect consumption patterns; and when a suspect consumption pattern is identified, notifying the utility of the identified suspect consumption pattern in the primary line, the utility thereafter monitoring characteristics of the plurality of transformers for identifying a suspect transformer; and load testing at least one of a plurality of secondary lines from the suspect transformer to each of the plurality of structures for identifying a suspect structure.