Abstract: Though the methods of electricity stealing are diversified, the principle is the same. Currently,common ways of electricity stealing mainly have failures that are created intentionally to decrease the recorded quantity of power usage in metering devices. This article introduces an investigation method in the style of rolling with the punches. Fully utilizing intelligent electric meters and remote meter reading systems, the investigation method proceeds with the failure diagnosis in metering devices. In the method, status analysis of operation condition is applied, combined with both new techniques and old approaches. Thus, the investigation is more precise and efficient.