ElectricalEngineering Department OverlookedPractices in Stealing Electricity A Case StudyPresented as Partial Fulfillment of theRequirements inTechnical Writing Presentedto:Prof. Rio S.AburidoENGL5 Instructor Presentedby:Domingo,John Marvin D.Guilalas,Mark Conrad Z.Torres,John Maynard L. January16, 2018 Tableof Contents I.
Introduction A. Objectives ……………………………………………… 1B. Scopeof the Study ………………………………………..
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Status Report ……………………………………………… 4 IV. Recommendations ……………………………………………….5 V. Appendices A.
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.5 INTRODUCTION Technology nowadays is continuouslyevolving and almost all of these technologies uses electricity hence,electricity has become a necessity for us since we use it in our daily livesbut this necessity isn’t free. In thePhilippines, there are only few power distributor companies. In Manila, thereis only one distributor which is MERALCO.
MERALCO monopolized the powerdistribution so they don’t have to worry about losing customers since they haveno choice. They can raise the cost of their service without risking of losingtheir customers but not everybody has the capacity to pay for their electricityso they result to using different methods to get electricity for free. Theelectricity they get now will be charge to the legitimate customers of thecompany. The methods wehave discovered can be dangerous to a person’s life. A body of a person can onlyhandle currents from 0.
1 to 0.2 Amperes but the average currents that areflowing through the live wires are ranges from 50-100 Amperes. So a second ofcontact can be fatal, but this fact doesn’t hinder them from dealing with livewires. So these study is conducted to know the method used by the people and tobe able to determine problems that may arise during the process. The objectives of this study are:1. To find out the most commonly usedmethod in stealing electricity.
2. To find out what type of devices theyare using and how to prevent them.3. To be able to recommend solutions forthe problem after the end of the study. Scope and DelimitationElectricitytheft is still a problem in Metro Manila.
In fact, the poverty level in MetroManila as of 2015 is 21.6 percent. So we can safely assume that one 1 of 5people in Metro Manila cannot afford to pay for their electricity and sinceelectricity is a necessity there is a high probability that they will betempted to steal electricity.This study willfocus on the most commonly used methods of stealing electricity in MetroManila, the devices they use in their method and the possible problems that mayoccur from such methods. OVERVIEW / ANALYSISHere in thePhilippines, especially in informal settlers’ areas, illegal connection ofelectricity or commonly known as “Jumper” is a common thing. People resolve todifferent kinds of ways in order to get the supply of electricity they needwithout paying. Surprisingly, the modus operandi of the people have not changedsince it became common.
The ManilaElectric Company, also known as MERALCO, is the largest distributor of power inthe Philippines. It is the only power distributor of Metro Manila. ManilaElectric Company is indeed a large corporation however they can’t even seem toproperly take care or protect their customers from these kinds of illegalconnections. The people areprobably forced to do this kind of stuff because they can’t afford theinstallation of electric meter.
Also even if someone can afford the monthlybills, some of the requirements are not that easy to obtain. Some of thesedocuments are proof of ownership/ occupancy and also a valid ID. If you are acitizen who do not have a stable income or a kind of citizen who works only toget through the day, these requirements are not easy to obtain. So as a resultpeople are forced to do such kind of things.
There are manyways of stealing electricity but in these study we are going to tackle justthree of the most common ways of stealing electricity. The key players to thesekind of activities are the parasite, host (The one who has its own electric meterissued by MERALCO) and MERALCO itself. These are the three most common ways instealing electricity. 1. By tapping to the supply line of theirneighborIn these kind ofsituations the players involved are the host and the parasite. The host isconsidered as the victim and the parasite as the suspect. The host is the onewho has a legal connection and has its own electric meter issued by MERALCOwhile the parasites just tap into the electric meter of the host. In these waythe parasite will have its supply of electricity which is free because the billwill be charge to the host.
This modus is the most common way of stealingelectricity. The equipment needed are only alligator clips and a few knowledgeabout electrical connections. This method is usually hard to detect especiallyif the host is not that observant but if the host is smart enough to notice thesudden increase in his or her electric bill, they can report it to MERALCO andthey will immediately disconnect the illegal connection.
2. By taking advantage of the old version ofelectric meter issued by MERALCO (The Analog Meter). This way ofstealing electricity involves the host and MERALCO. In this method, the host isnow the one who is stealing electricity from MERALCO. The picture of the oldversion of the electric meter is as shown below. The power usage can be read bythe speed of rotation of arrow as shown in the picture and if you could slow itdown, the electricity bill will go down. So after asking an employee of MERALCO,they said that this kind of meters can easily be tampered and cheated.
Anybodycould slow down the rotation of the arrow by tightening the screw thus slowingit down and the host’s electric bill goes down since the consumption is basedon the rotation of the analog meter. The equipment needed is only screw driver. 3.
By tapping directly into the power lines of MERALCO.As shown in thepicture there are many illegal connections that are tapped directly into themain power line. The people involved in these method are the parasite and MERALCO.In these method the parasite is directly stealing power from MERALCO. Thesemethod is vulgar and dangerous.
It is vulgar because it can easily be seen byanyone passing by and it is dangerous because those wires are carrying highcurrents and voltages and if someone came into contact with it they couldeasily die. With this given methods,we can conclude that the equipment needed to steal electricity is not that hardto obtain. We can also infer that fire breakouts can occur when the person whois trying to steal electricity shorted some of the wires and it can be a hugeproblem especially if the fire occur in crowded areas where houses don’t havefire walls.
Also, it is safe to assume that the person doing this kind ofthings did not practice electrical engineering, there is a high chance that itmay cost someone’s life.STATUS REPORTThe governmentof the Philippines with the help of other agencies, concerning the lawsspecifically about the legal use of electricity such as MERALCO, Department ofEnergy (DOE) and etc. formulated law/s to prevent people from committing anillegal act specifically in the subject of stealing electricity.
Republic Act No.7832, this Act shall be referred to as the “Anti-electricity and ElectricTransmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.”The law was created sinceDecember 8 1994 of the Ninth Congress. This law focuses in the illegalconsumption of electricity. This includes 1.Tap, make or cause to be made any connection with overheadlines, service drops, or other electric service wires, without previousauthority or consent of the private electric utility or rural electriccooperative concerned2.Tap, make or cause to be made any connection to the existing electric servicefacilities of any duly registered consumer without the latter’s or the electricutility’s consent or authority;3.
Tamper, install or use a tampered electrical meter, jumper, current reversingtransformer, shorting or shunting wire, loop connection or any other devicewhich interferes with the proper or accurate registry or metering of electriccurrent or otherwise results in its diversion in a manner whereby electricityis stolen or wasted;4.Damage or destroy an electric meter, equipment, wire or conduit or allow any ofthem to be so damaged or destroyed as to interfere with the proper or accuratemetering of electric current; and The MERALCOdeveloped a program called “Elevated Metering Center”, they placed the banks ofmeters higher to prevent anyone from stealing, cutting, slicing or destroyinglines. In addition to that, they have monthly inspection of meters if it’sworking and if there is inappropriate connections they will trace and check RECOMMENDATIONS1. Surprise andRandom inspection of electric meter. They must do it randomly so people willnot be aware when the next checking will happen. 2.
It is alsopossible to put higher technology of protection to avoid people being able to”tap” in to the electrical wires with ease. 3. Implementinga good and strong lock on the electric meters to avoid it being manipulated bydoing/injecting elements that would result to a lower electrical bill.APPENDIX “ResolutionNo. 11 Series of 2009, Elevated Metering Center” “RepublicAct No.
7832, Anti-electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/MaterialsPilferage Act of 1994″
