Utilities
Volume XX of the Sector Coverage Series
For investor-owned utility general counsel, municipal-utility risk teams, and independent investigators retained by generation, transmission, distribution operators, and their insurers.
Professional Reference Material
These playbooks are professional reference material intended for licensed investigators. They are not legal advice. Investigators are responsible for compliance with the laws of their jurisdiction and the specific requirements of their clients and cases.
The TALON Difference
Every playbook in this platform is built against TALON, the proprietary defensive-operations doctrine developed inside The Investigator's Desk over years of federal investigative practice.
Actor-model analysis
Reverse trace
Artifact mapping
evidence econstruction
“Subscribers receive the playbook; the proprietary model that produced it stays inside the platform.”
Utilities, At a Glance
96
Investigative Playbooks
21
Categories
$227
Per Month
within 24-36h
Dispatch
The 96 Utilities Playbooks
The full catalog is listed below by category. Each entry is a standalone playbook covering the case type named.
01 Electric Theft and Meter Tampering
Residential meter tampering investigation
Commercial meter tampering investigation
Marijuana grow-house electric theft
Bypass and diversion investigation
Cryptomining electric theft
02 Water Theft and Revenue Loss
Water meter tampering investigation
Fire hydrant water theft
Illegal irrigation and after-restriction use
Cross-connection and unauthorized diversion
Bulk water theft and hauling investigation
03 Natural Gas Theft and Diversion
Gas meter tampering investigation
Illegal reconnection of gas service
Gas diversion via bypass
Propane and LPG theft investigation
04 Customer Account Fraud
Utility account identity theft
Slamming (unauthorized supplier switch)
Cramming (unauthorized charges)
Deposit fraud investigation
Low-income program (LIHEAP) fraud
05 Solar, Net-Metering, and Rooftop DER Fraud
Solar interconnection fraud
Net metering credit fraud
SREC and renewable credit fraud
Solar installer fraud (customer victim)
06 EV and Charging Station Fraud
EV charging billing fraud
EV charger vandalism investigation
Utility EV rebate program fraud
Time-of-use rate fraud workup
07 Field Operations and Lineman Investigation
Line crew safety incident investigation
Contact incident (public electrical contact)
Underground damage and utility strike investigation
Field employee misconduct workup
08 Wildfire and Infrastructure Liability
Utility wildfire ignition investigation
Vegetation management compliance investigation
PSPS (public safety power shutoff) event review
Substation and equipment failure investigation
Undergrounding and hardening compliance
09 Gas Leak and Pipeline Safety
Gas leak and explosion investigation
Pipeline integrity management workup (utility)
Third-party damage to gas line
Leak survey compliance investigation
Odorization and mercaptan compliance workup
10 Water Quality and Public Health
Water contamination event investigation
Boil-water advisory response workup
Lead service line investigation
PFAS and emerging contaminant response
SDWA compliance and MCL exceedance workup
11 Employee Fraud and Misconduct
Meter reader fraud investigation
Customer service agent misconduct
Field employee time and materials fraud
Employee kickback with contractor investigation (utility)
Executive expense abuse (utility)
12 Contractor and Vendor Fraud
Vegetation management contractor fraud
Line construction contractor fraud
Meter installation contractor fraud
Water treatment chemical vendor fraud
Engineering and design vendor fraud (utility)
13 Regulatory Investigation and Rate Cases
PUC complaint response and investigation
Rate case discovery support
Enforcement action defense (utility)
PBR/performance metrics investigation
CPUC/state commission investigation defense workup
14 Grid Security and Cyber
NERC CIP compliance investigation
OT/ICS cyber incident investigation (utility)
SCADA compromise investigation (utility)
Substation physical security incident
Insider threat at control center
15 Public Infrastructure Investigation
Streetlight fraud and vandalism
Municipal utility governance investigation
Franchise agreement compliance investigation
Cooperative utility governance workup
16 Storm and Outage Investigation
Storm response audit
Prolonged outage complaint investigation
Mutual aid billing dispute investigation
Damage claim from restoration operations
17 Renewable Procurement Fraud
PPA fraud investigation (utility side)
REC and green tariff fraud
Community solar program fraud
Feed-in tariff and QF workup
18 Environmental Compliance and Incident
SPCC and oil spill investigation (utility)
Coal combustion residuals (CCR) compliance
Air emissions and Title V compliance (utility)
Wetlands and habitat impact investigation (utility)
19 Litigation Support
Wrongful death and personal injury defense (utility)
Property damage claim defense (utility)
Inverse condemnation defense (wildfire)
Class action defense (billing/service)
Bad faith and extra-contractual defense workup (utility)
20 M&A and Utility Transaction Diligence
Utility M&A due diligence
Generation asset acquisition diligence
Transmission asset diligence
Water/wastewater utility acquisition diligence
21 Emerging Exposure
AMI (smart meter) fraud investigation
Utility drone incident investigation
Distributed energy resource (DER) aggregation fraud
Climate disclosure and ESG reporting workup (utility)
Utility-scale battery and BESS fire workup
Where Utilities Meets the Rest of the Catalog
Utilities investigations regularly cross into adjacent sectors. The volumes listed below carry the framework and playbooks that most often surface alongside a utilities matter. Tier 2 subscribers have access to every volume; the cross-references identify where to look first.
Volume III · Oil and Gas
Gas-utility interconnection disputes and pipeline-adjacent utility easement matters.
Volume IV · Maritime
Water-utility contamination from maritime sources and port-adjacent utility exposure.
Volume XV · Insurance
Wildfire liability claims, utility property claims, and business-interruption matters following outages.
Volume XVI · Telecommunications
Utility-telecom shared-infrastructure investigations, joint-pole matters, and tower-site investigations.
Volume XIX · Real Estate
Property-based utility fraud, meter tampering, and developer utility disputes.
Volume XXI · Renewable Energy
Grid-interconnection fraud, distributed-generation net-metering fraud, and storage-project matters.
What Ships & How
Two Documents Per Case Request
Operational Playbook
The doctrinal chapter: case overview, business and practice framework, investigative blueprint with step cards covering purpose, actions, output, restrictions, and gates, evidence considerations, interview strategy, report considerations, common mistakes, a tabletop exercise with worked answers, closing take, and the case-specific Client Communication Pack of email templates for every touchpoint from proposal through invoicing.
TALON Brief
The actor model for the case typology, the artifact map, and the reverse-trace sequence. This is the doctrine layer that tells the investigator not just what to do, but why those steps in that order, grounded in how actors in that typology actually operate.
Universal Forms
25 universal forms are provided separately as a one-time subscriber download.
Delivery Framework
Case requests → secure email
Dispatch → within 24–36 hours
Maximum → 3 playbooks / rolling 7 days
Monthly reports → scheduled delivery
Quarterly report → scheduled delivery
On-Demand Reports → separate purchase