The bulk of Revenue Protection groups began in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The establishment of these groups was directly related to the oil embargo and increases in utility rates as well as an attitude that prevailed throughout the world where certain groups of people felt that utility companies were not entitled to charge for their service.
The problem of theft in the utility industry is not unique to any one country or region. Utilities differ only in their perspective of the magnitude of the problem and the nature of their response.
Public Power Magazine, which is published by the American Public Power Association, has reported the losses resulting from theft of electricity from utilities in the United States amounts to approximately $4 billion annually and an additional $2 billion is lost annually due to theft of natural gas and water service (Public Power, Vol 52, No. 6, pp. 26-31). Armed with this information, utilities must develop proactive programs to minimize their revenue losses resulting from theft, fraud and malfunctioning equipment.
Today utilities are faced with new and more sophisticated methods of theft and it is imperative that each one of you is equal to the challenge. We are here to help you continue to effectively address the theft problems, as well as non-theft revenue losses, as they are evolving.