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Power utilities worldwide are facing enormous challenges when it comes to the distribution of electricity. With these challenges, electricity theft is regarded as the most common challenge in the electrical distribution system. Electricity theft can be meter tampering done in consumer houses and illegal connections done using hook-ups from the distribution pole grids. These electricity theft challenges have caused power utilities to reconsider customer engagements focusing on feedback, putting loss detection systems in their distribution system networks, using artificial intelligence to schedule maintenance and other asset management activities, etc. The main focus of this paper is to design a real-time power theft monitoring and detection system that is able to detect power theft in distribution systems. This proposed system utilizes smart meters consisting of an Arduino ATMega328P microcontrollers with GSM modules (Global System for Mobile Communication) used for system communication. Cloud storage is created to store the smart meter data. Simulations of the proposed system were done using Proteus Design Suite v.8.10 SP3 software. The proposed system is practically constructed for prototype measurement results. Should power imbalances be measured by the system, the authority office will receive an SMS notification as an alert for power theft detected by a specific smart metering system. The authority office will analyse the power measurements sent to the cloud storage (MATLAB Online, ThingSpeak IoT channels display), and further action will be taken.

Illegal connection (IC) in water supply systems and water network wastes water as well as energy and reduces water quality, which has negative technical and economic effects on water management. Transient-based defect detection is a powerful method applied in water pipelines. This paper investigates the efficiency of the transient-based inverse transient analysis (ITA) method in estimating the characteristics of ICs in the viscoelastic water supply system in the time domain. To better evaluate this method, an experimental transient model was developed using polyethylene pipelines (with a length of 158 meters and a nominal diameter of 2 inches). In the first step, the hydraulic transient solver was calibrated in the calibration approach of dynamic parameters of pressure wave speed and pipe wall viscoelasticity. Then, the sensitivity of the ITA method to the spatial step of the method of characteristics and signal sample size was assessed. Finally, the efficiency of the ITA method was evaluated for several experiments with different transient intensities and a noisy signal. The results indicated that the accuracy for locating the IC was higher than the accuracy for the IC's length.

In pipe systems illegal branches can take away remarkable water resources with negative effects from both the economic and technical points of view. Difficulties in pointing out illegal branches by means of steady-state pressure and discharge measurements are mainly due to the fact that, of course, such systems are not active according to a regular time schedule. In this paper the possibility of using Transient Test-Based Techniques (TTBT) for the location and sizing of branches is shown. Specifically, tests carried out in different branched pipe systems at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia, Italy, show that TTBT allow us to detect branches irrespective of whether they are active or not. To improve the precision of the localization, arrival times of pressure waves are detected by means of wavelet analysis. Finally, a simple relation based on the water hammer theory is proposed to size the branch reliably.

Rural electrification can have many benefits-not only bringing lighting, but improving the quality of health care, spreading information and supporting productive enterprises. The extent of these benefits has been questioned, arguing that they may be insufficient to justify the investment costs. This book quantifies these benefits. It finds that the benefits can indeed be high, substantially outweighing the costs, and that consumer willingness to pay is generally sufficient to achieve financial sustainability. However, benefits could be increased further by providing smart subsidies to assist connections for poorer households, promote productive uses and further consumer education.

The last fifteen years have seen Armenia emerge from Soviet rule and a severe economic and energy crisis, both complicated by its newfound political surroundings. The last ten years have seen significant reform and progress in the power sector which, when compared to the progress made by its neighbors, is all the more remarkable. The benefits of reform have not been easily won, however, and Armenia’s success is a tribute to its ability to learn from mistakes and persevere. A combination of improper planning and bad fortune forced the Government of Armenia to go through three separate tenders for its privatization assets. A combination of good planning and good fortune ultimately allowed for what has turned out to be one of the region’s most successful infrastructure privatizations so far.

This publication offers crucial lessons for policy makers and development experts who may be considering using small area poverty maps as tools of economic development and helps add to our array of tools for dealing with the political economy issues of poverty. It represents a major contribution to a little understood aspect of the well-known adage \"location, location, location,\" demonstrating that the conceptualization of poverty at the local level represents an important step in our fight against poverty. Insights from the diverse experiences of 12 countries are drawn together in the first two chapters, on key elements in the successful implementation and utilization of poverty maps and on the political economy of poverty maps. The case studies in the volume highlight the wide range of policies and interventions that have been influenced by poverty maps, including, but not limited to, the location of investments and services, the creation of district and municipal development plans, and the allocation of grants and fiscal transfers. They show that successfully implemented and appropriately utilized poverty maps may lead to radical shifts in the perception of poverty and in strategies designed to address poverty.

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments, civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other development partners to examine the distributional impacts of policy reforms on the well-being of different stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable. PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing countries because it promotes evidence-based policy choices and fosters debate on policy reform options. This publication presents a collection of case studies that illustrate the spectrum of sectors and policy reforms to which PSIA can be applied; it also elaborates on the broad range of analytical tools and techniques that can be used for PSIA. The case studies provide examples of the impact that PSIA can have on the design of policy reforms and draw operational lessons for PSIA implementation. The case studies deal largely with policy reforms in a single sector, such as agriculture (crop marketing boards in Malawi and Tanzania and cotton privatization in Tajikistan); energy (mining sector in Romania and oil subsidies in Ghana); utilities (power sector reform in Ghana, Rwanda, and transition economies, and water sector reform in Albania); social sectors (education reform in Mozambique and social welfare reform in Sri Lanka); taxation reform (Nicaragua); as well as macroeconomic modeling (Burkina Faso).

This study explores whether or not a firm's ownership status, as state-owned enterprise (SOE) or private-owned enterprise (POE), will influence its likelihood of engaging in illegality in China. We build our arguments on the institution-based view, positing that firms rationally pursue their interests in the distinct institutional context of China. Compared to SOEs, POEs have limited access to institutional resources, the lack of which threatens their development or even survival, forcing them to \"break rules\" to overcome institutional barriers. We thus suggest that POEs demonstrate a higher propensity to engage in illegal actions than SOEs do. However, if POEs could gain access to more institutional resources, their motivation to engage in illegal actions is likely to decrease. Following this logic, we suggest that political connections and market development will mitigate the likelihood that POEs will engage in illegal actions. We find support for our predictions using evidence from Chinese listed manufacturers. Our research contributes to the literature by revealing the institutional aspects of corporate illegality in transitional economies.

Studies in the land use–travel connection have long neglected the role of neighbourhood crime. This paper analyses such a role of crime and explores whether more compact land-use characteristics tend to cluster more crimes, thus having a negative impact on public transit use. A path analysis model is used to estimate the relationship between land use, crime, and bus ridership in the city of Austin, Texas. The results demonstrate that higher population density and more mixed land use may significantly stimulate more crimes near the bus stops while the level of crime may have a nonlinear effect on ridership. Once the number of reported crimes exceeds a threshold level, ridership is negatively affected. As a result, very dense residential and commercial development may trigger a rise in crimes, leading to a fall in ridership. These findings suggest that those who seek to implement land use policies to increase transit use and reduce auto dependence should recognise and evaluate land use impact on crime and how this impact affects travel behaviours.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the deleveraging impact of the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on private firms with political connections, relative to those without political connections. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, taking the anti-corruption campaign employed from the end of 2012 as an exogenous shock, the authors design a quasi-experiment difference-in-difference approach to examine how the loss and failure of political connections impacts private firms’ debt financing. Findings The authors find that the loss and failure of political connections following the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress causes the yearly new debt ratios of treatment firms with political connections to decrease, relative to those of control firms without political connections. This outcome is more pronounced for provinces with more cadres excluded in the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress, which rendered politically connected firms susceptible to lose connections with central or provincial cadres. To explore the mechanism, the authors find that following the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress, politically connected firms limit rent-seeking activities, whereas resource acquisition is weakened. The authors also find that the impact of the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress on the debt financing of politically connected firms, relative to their counterparts, is more pronounced for groups with high levels of information asymmetry and for less explicit guarantee groups. Finally, politically connected firms are more likely to be dominated by internal funds in dealing with a loss of advantages in debt financing, compared with their counterparts without political connections. Research limitations/implications The findings in this study suggest that the loss or failure of previous political connections following Xi’s anti-corruption campaign make politically connected firms lose the advantages in debt financing through the rent-seeking, resource acquisition, information asymmetry, implicit guarantee channels, which provide new evidence for research on the impact of the anti-corruption campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress on private firms’ financing behaviors via the loss or failure of existing political connections. Practical implications The findings in the study will have some inspiration for policy makers and entrepreneur. Originality/value This study provides new evidence on the different impacts of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign on private firm’s debt financing between politically connected and unconnected firms.