Design of Control and Monitoring System for Electrical Power on kWh Meter Based on Internet of Things (IoT)

Electricity theft is the illegal use of electrical power without proper authorization and payment. This act causes losses to the electricity provider and the public, poses safety hazards, and violates the law. Perusahaan Umum Daerah (PERUMDA) Tuah Sekata of Pelalawan Regency, as a regional-owned enterprise responsible for electricity distribution to the community, annually detects indications of electricity theft through field inspections. To simplify the identification process and reduce operational costs, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based device was designed to monitor and control customers’ electricity consumption.
The device utilizes a power supply as a 5V DC voltage source, a PZEM-004T sensor to measure voltage, current, power, and energy, an LCD 16x2 to display measurement results, and a 5V relay to connect or disconnect the customer’s power supply. An ESP32 microcontroller processes the data and transmits it via Wi-Fi to the Blynk application, which serves as an online monitoring interface.
The device developed in this study not only facilitates real-time monitoring of electricity consumption but also serves to detect and prevent potential electricity theft. The experimental results show that, for voltage measurements, the average percentage error obtained was 0.41% (Device IoT 1), 0.29% (Device IoT 2), and 0.38% (Device IoT 3). Meanwhile, for current measurements, the average error rates were 8.42% (Device IoT 1), 8.66% (Device IoT 2), and 8.60% (Device IoT 3). Based on the experimental results, it can be concluded that the three developed IoT devices have an error rate of less than 10% (classified as very good), making them feasible for use in monitoring electrical power consumption.