We rarely think about our power grid—until the lights go out.  A recent Ohio Capital Journal article highlighted what a lot of folks working in utilities already know: some parts of the grid are running on borrowed time. In Ohio, older, less maintained infrastructure is more common in certain areas—usually lower-income communities. That means more frequent outages and fewer options for things like solar or battery backups.   And it’s not just Ohio. Across the country, most distribution transformers are 25 to 40 years old. That’s past the point of ideal operation, especially now that our loads are more complex—think EV chargers, heat pumps and rooftop solar, all feeding into the same aging system.   

The Problem with Looking Backward 

Utilities rely on a few standard reliability metrics: 

• SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) – the total duration of outages for the average customer over a given period. 
• SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) – the average number of interruptions that a customer would experience. 
• CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index) – the average time it takes to restore service per interruption.

These tell you what already went wrong. They don’t help you predict or prevent future outages.   

Better Tools, Smarter Decisions

This is where modern grid monitoring helps. At Edge Zero, we build technology that lets utilities see issues in near real-time—and in a lot of cases, spot them before they cause trouble.  Here’s what that looks like in practice: 

• Fast Fault Detection: If a voltage drops or a current spike happens, the system flags it instantly—before someone has to call in an outage. 
• Predictive Analytics: The sensors track things like load balance, harmonics and flicker. That means a utility can spot signs of stress before something fails. 
• Support for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs): Solar, batteries and EVs sometimes cause strain on legacy gear. Our system helps grid operators manage that complexity. 
• Real Monitoring, Not Just Meter Reads: Devices like the EdgeSensor series collect power quality data every minute and log events for 90 days. You can go back and actually see what happened and why. 

 

Think of It Like a Smartwatch

Low voltage distribution network monitoring is kind of like a fitness tracker for the grid. Just like your smartwatch alerts you if your heart rate spikes or if you’ve been sitting too long, these sensors let utilities know when something’s off. That’s how you move from firefighting to actual maintenance planning.   

What We’re Seeing in the Field

One example: a utility in Vermont installed these on a rural circuit and immediately found a transformer running too hot on one phase. That kind of problem could’ve easily led to an outage or worse. Instead, they caught it in time and swapped the unit out. No outage. No customer complaints. No overtime call-out crew.  The takeaway is simple: if you can’t see what’s going on, you can’t fix it—and you can’t mitigate the risks of future failures.  Edge Zero’s sensors and platform aren’t just about data. They’re about giving utilities the visibility they need to make smarter decisions, faster.  Not every transformer needs a monitor. But in aging, underserved parts of the grid—like those spotlighted in Ohio—you can’t fix what you can’t see.