The top challenges keeping utility executives awake at night

The utility sector is navigating an unprecedented period of transformation. From aging infrastructure to climate risk, executives face a web of challenges that threaten operational stability, financial performance, and their ability to serve customers reliably. The striking thing about that web is how much of it traces back to one quiet prerequisite: an accurate, current picture of what is actually in the field. Here are the worries keeping leaders up — and the common thread running through them.

Grid modernization vs. rate recovery

The grid needs billions in capital, but securing rate increases against customer pushback is harder than ever. Every dollar must be defensible, which means the asset base it rests on must be trustworthy. A precise field inventory is the foundation of the investment case, as we cover in grid modernization cost recovery.

Wildfire liability and climate risk

In fire-prone regions, a single event can generate liability exceeding a utility’s market capitalization — sometimes regardless of negligence. Mitigation depends on knowing exactly where vegetation sits relative to conductors today, the subject of wildfire liability and climate risk.

Distributed energy resources

Rooftop solar, storage, and EVs are rewriting grid operations from the edges. Hosting-capacity analysis and interconnection planning are only as good as the network model behind them — see DER integration and hosting capacity.

The aging workforce

A large share of the workforce is nearing retirement, taking decades of undocumented field knowledge with them. A digital twin captures that institutional memory as data, helping close the aging workforce and skills gap.

Data you can trust

Underlying all of the above is the operations problem nobody puts on a slide: the GIS is wrong. Legacy landbases drift, records lag reality, and downstream systems inherit the error — which is why GIS accuracy matters and why network-aware automation needs accurate trace-network data. Without a clean base, even an ADMS will not be data-ready.

One drive, one source of truth

These challenges are interconnected and compounding — and they share a single remedy. A drive-by pass with a 360° camera and multi-band GPS produces a survey-grade digital twin in one trip: three deliverables from one drive — immersive video, a measurable georeferenced point cloud, and AI-detected asset inventories written into your GIS. Field teams can measure directly in the browser, and because the twin is always current, it stays trustworthy as the grid evolves. That is the backbone of a modern utilities and telco digital twin.

See the capture in the video gallery, explore the industries we serve, or contact us to turn these nighttime concerns into daytime opportunities.