The Power Grid’s Midlife Crisis (and How to Fix It)

For decades, utilities have relied on tried-and-true methods to keep the lights on: thermal imaging, ultrasound, dissolved gas analysis, and periodic maintenance schedules. But now, the industry is facing a reckoning. Aging infrastructure, a shrinking workforce, and growing demands for sustainability and resilience have thrown the power grid into what can only be described as a midlife crisis.

The challenges are mounting:

• More than 12,000 skilled workers leave the utility workforce every day in North America alone.
• The pipeline of trained engineers to replace them is running dry.
• The push for carbon reduction and sustainable practices is stronger than ever, requiring utilities to rethink how they monitor, maintain, and optimize their systems.

So, what’s the fix?

Rethinking Maintenance: From Overhead to Strategic Advantage

Traditionally, maintenance has been seen as a cost center—an overhead expense that organizations try to minimize. But this mindset is outdated. Instead of framing maintenance as a necessary evil, utilities need to shift the conversation toward resilience, reliability, and sustainability.

The solution isn’t about doing more maintenance—it’s about doing smarter maintenance. That means moving away from rigid, time-based schedules and adopting condition-based monitoring (CBM). Rather than shutting down equipment on an arbitrary six-month or five-year schedule, utilities should use real-time data to determine when maintenance is actually needed.

The Silver Tsunami and the Skills Gap

One of the biggest hurdles to modernizing the grid is the loss of experienced workers. The so-called Silver Tsunami—the mass retirement of skilled utility workers—has left companies scrambling to fill critical roles. But here’s the problem: we didn’t train enough engineers to replace them.

With fewer experts on hand, utilities need to make inspections and data collection easier and more accessible. This is where “citizen operators” come in—lower-skilled workers who, with the right tools and training, can handle routine monitoring tasks. Instead of requiring an engineer to open an energized cabinet for an infrared scan, utilities can equip field workers with thermochromic indicators that provide a simple, color-changing warning when overheating occurs. The data can then be passed along to engineers, who can focus on solving problems rather than collecting basic readings.

Why IoT in Utilities Often Fails (And How to Fix It)

The rise of IoT (Internet of Things) and IIoT (Industrial IoT) should, in theory, help solve these issues by automating data collection. But here’s the reality: 87–92% of IoT programs fail to deliver their expected results. The problem isn’t the technology—it’s the way it’s implemented.

Too often, IoT initiatives are launched from the top down, with little input from the people who actually use the data. Engineers on the ground don’t trust the numbers, communication breaks down, and ultimately, the technology gets abandoned. Successful IoT programs require a cultural shift, where utilities prioritize trust in data, clear communication, and usability.

Precision Maintenance: The Netflix vs. Blockbuster Dilemma

The future of grid maintenance is precision maintenance—fixing only what needs to be fixed, when it needs fixing. This helps by:

• Reducing unnecessary shutdowns
• Preventing new defects from being introduced during routine maintenance
• Making the entire system more efficient.

To put it bluntly: Do you want to be Netflix or Blockbuster?

Blockbuster stuck to the old model—rigid schedules, outdated methods, and an inability to adapt. Netflix, on the other hand, reinvented the way we consume media. The utility industry is at the same crossroads. Those that embrace condition-based monitoring, precision maintenance, and smarter workforce strategies will thrive. Those that don’t will struggle to keep up.

The Road Ahead: Future-Proofing the Grid

If utilities want to future-proof the grid, they need to stop thinking about maintenance as an overhead cost and start thinking about reliability, resilience, and sustainability. Condition-based monitoring, better workforce utilization, and trust in new technologies will determine which companies lead the way—and which ones get left behind.

The power grid may be in the middle of a crisis, but the good news? With the right approach, midlife can be just the beginning of something better.