Patent Document ID: 9171339
Application ID: 13288716
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer instructions stored therein for causing a computer processor to perform steps of: upon transmissively receiving utility consumption data of a group of residential or commercial units via a networking unit, each of which includes a utility consumption meter disposed in communication with the networking unit, from the respective utility consumption meters, defining clusters of elements by geography and utility consumption; evaluating a significance of each cluster by comparing an average utility consumption within the cluster based on the utility consumption data transmissively received via the networking units from utility consumption meters associated with the cluster with utility consumption of residential or commercial units neighboring the cluster based on the utility consumption data transmissively received via the networking units from utility consumption meters associated with the the residential or commercial units neighboring the cluster; and determining from a result of the evaluating which clusters exhibit significant differences in utility consumption from the neighboring elements by: deriving, for each cluster, a cluster score equal to a sum of a number of neighbors of the cluster and a number of the residential or commercial units within the cluster times a natural log of a first variance minus the sum times a natural log of a second variance, and defining those clusters having cluster scores closest to 1 as regional outliers, wherein: the first variance is a variance of the residential or commercial units within the cluster, and the second variance is a variance of the residential or commercial units within the cluster and a variance of residential or commercial units within clusters neighboring the cluster.