Meter tampering and theft of service case
How do we run a suspected meter tampering or theft of service case by gathering the field evidence, back-billing by the tariff's rule, and issuing the required notices?
Run the case on evidence, the tariff's rule and the notices the commission requires. When tampering is suspected (a field report, a meter data anomaly, a reversed or stopped register, a broken seal), Callvu opens the case on the premise, prefills the meter, the seals, the usage history and the account history, chases the field evidence from the technician's device (the photos, the seal numbers, the bypass or the diversion found, the test of the meter, the corrective action and the make-safe), classifies the case under the tariff (unauthorized use, tampering, diversion, a meter defect that is not tampering), computes the back-bill by the tariff's method and period from the evidence, generates the notices the tariff and the commission require (the investigation charge, the back-bill with the computation and the dispute rights, the disconnection notice where the rules allow), routes the determination and the back-bill to the revenue protection desk in the Decision Desk, and writes the case, the charges and the notices to the CIS and billing.
In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The back-bill was for thirty-six months on a hunch, the photos were on the technician's phone, and the customer won at the commission.
Theft of service is real and costly, and the response is often improvised: a technician finds a bypass, fixes it, and tells the office; someone computes a back-bill from the highest month times a long period; a letter demands payment and threatens disconnection; the evidence is a text message. The customer disputes it, the commission asks for the computation and the notices, and the utility cannot produce either.
The tariff sets the rule: what counts as unauthorized use and tampering, the investigation and the meter charges, the back-billing method (the usage estimated from the history or the corrected meter, for the period the evidence supports, up to the tariff's maximum), the notices with the computation and the dispute rights, and the disconnection conditions under the commission's rules. The evidence has to be captured on site with the seals, the photos and the test. The case should run on the record.
A tampering case that survives the commission is one built on evidence and the tariff's arithmetic.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
Tampering is suspected from a field report, a meter data anomaly, a broken seal on a read, or a tip. Callvu opens the case on the premise.
- Technician or revenue protection investigator
- Captures the evidence on site, makes safe and corrects the installation.
- Customer
- Receives the notices with the computation and the dispute rights, and may respond with evidence.
- Revenue protection desk
- Decides the determination, the back-bill and the referrals in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Prefills, chases the evidence, classifies, computes, generates notices, routes and writes.
Prefill, chase and verify the evidence
The premise, the meter and its seals on record, the usage and the meter data history (with the anomaly's start date where the data shows it), the account and the occupant history are prefilled; the field evidence is captured on the investigator's device: the photos of the meter, the seals and the bypass or diversion, the seal numbers found against the record, the meter's test result, the corrective action and the make-safe, the condition left; what is missing is chased before the case can be classified.
Classify
The case is classified under the tariff and the evidence: tampering with the meter, a bypass or a diversion around it, unauthorized use (service taken without an account), or a meter defect or a utility error that is not tampering (which routes to the meter test or the billing correction processes); the classification sets the charges, the back-billing method, the period the evidence supports and the notices.
Compute and decide
The back-bill is computed by the tariff's method (the usage from the history before the anomaly, the corrected meter's usage after the repair, or the load-based estimate the tariff prescribes) for the period from the evidence's start date (the data anomaly, the occupancy, the seal record) up to the tariff's maximum, with the investigation and the meter charges; the determination, the back-bill, a referral to law enforcement where the policy and the evidence warrant it, and a disconnection notice where the commission's rules allow it go to the revenue protection desk in the Decision Desk with the evidence and the computation and only the allowed outcomes (issue, issue a reduced period with the reason, reclassify, or close).
Notice and write back
The notices are generated from the decision (the determination with the evidence summary, the back-bill with the computation, the charges, the payment and arrangement options, the dispute rights, and the disconnection notice on the commission's rules where applicable) and delivered; the case, the charges and the notices are written to the CIS, the system of record for the premise, and billing, and the customer's response runs through the dispute process with the case record.
Where it ends: The case rested on evidence captured on site, was classified under the tariff, back-billed by the rule for the period the evidence supports, noticed with the computation and the rights, decided by the revenue protection desk and written to the CIS and billing. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the computation and the decision; the Audit Trace shows the evidence, the notices and the writes with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The customer meets the case in the notices with the computation and the dispute rights, and responds through the dispute process.
The back office
The investigator captures evidence on site; the revenue protection desk decides from the record; billing and the notices run from the decision.
The Decision Desk
- Every determination, back-bill, referral and disconnection goes to the revenue protection desk in the Decision Desk with the evidence and the computation and only issue, issue a reduced period with reason, reclassify, or close.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
What evidence is required?
The photos of the meter, the seals and the bypass or diversion, the seal numbers against the record, the meter's test, the corrective action and the make-safe, captured on the investigator's device on site before the case can be classified.
How is the back-bill computed?
By the tariff's method (the usage history, the corrected meter or a load analysis) for the period the evidence supports, from the start date the data or the occupancy shows, up to the tariff's maximum, with the computation in the notice.
Can the utility disconnect?
Where the tariff and the commission's rules allow it for tampering or theft, on the notice the rules require, decided by the revenue protection desk on the record.
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