When the Grid Thinks for Itself

Utilities speed up grid automation to meet tougher rules and rising strain from weather, renewables and electrification

5 Jan 2026

America’s electricity grid is being quietly overhauled as utilities invest in automation to improve reliability amid rising demand, harsher weather and tighter regulation.

Power companies are rolling out smart grid technologies that allow local networks to detect faults, reroute power and restore service with limited human intervention. Avangrid, a US utility owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, has installed more than 650 automated devices across parts of Maine and New York, including reclosers, line sensors and remote-controlled switches.

The programme aligns with New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision policy, which pushes utilities to modernise networks and improve resilience. The technology enables operators to identify problems almost instantly and, in many cases, restore service remotely before customers are aware of an outage.

Such investments are being driven by several pressures. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and disruptive, electricity use is rising as heating, transport and industry electrify, and regulators are tightening standards. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state authorities are placing greater emphasis on how long outages last and how often they occur.

Automation allows utilities to respond within minutes rather than hours, reducing the need to send crews into the field for routine faults. Utilities say this shortens outages, cuts operating costs and improves worker safety.

Industry analysts estimate that US utilities are spending tens of billions of dollars a year on grid modernisation, including advanced meters, automation and digital control systems. The spending reflects a broader shift in how utilities view their role, moving beyond the maintenance of physical assets towards managing data-rich networks that can monitor and adjust performance in near real time.

The timing is critical. Utilities are under pressure to connect more renewable generation and electric vehicle charging without undermining system stability. Smarter grids offer greater visibility over power flows and provide the data regulators increasingly demand to assess performance.

The transition is not without risks. Utilities face growing concerns over cybersecurity, and integrating new digital tools with decades-old infrastructure can be complex and costly. Even so, most industry observers argue that delaying investment would be more damaging.

For customers, the immediate impact is fewer and shorter power cuts. For utilities, grid automation is becoming central to maintaining reliability and meeting regulatory expectations as the US energy system evolves.