CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
How Electra Used FME and IoT Sensors to Bring Real-Time Outage Detection to 45,000+ Customers
By integrating IoT Phase Loss Sensors with FME Flow across their low voltage network, Electra extended real-time outage detection beyond the high voltage grid for the first time giving their team faster, more precise fault location and the foundation for a network monitoring capability that can scale into the millions of sensors.
45,000+ customers served
Electra’s Kapiti and Horowhenua network, serving the region for more than 70 years
200 sensors deployed
Current Phase Loss Sensor deployment across the low voltage network
Infinitely scalable
Architecture designed to extend from 200 sensors to millions with ease
Real-time fault detection
IoT sensor events trigger FME Flow automations in real time, feeding directly into the Outage Management System
Many of our daily data jobs are made simpler with FME. It handles the most straightforward of tasks as well as the complex with speed and precision, enabling a more effective use of our team resources. We’re genuinely excited about the opportunities this software has brought to our business and where it can take us in the future.”
– Mathew Cooper, Network Digital Systems Manager, Electra
The Challenge
Real-Time Monitoring Stopped at the High Voltage Network
Electra owns and operates the electricity lines and assets in the Kapiti and Horowhenua districts located north of Wellington, New Zealand, and has distributed electricity to these regions for more than 70 years. Electra is the 9th largest electricity lines company in the country.
The high voltage National Grid distributes power from its generation source via substations, transformers, lines and cables that are managed by electricity distributors such as Electra to low voltage equipment, which connects over a meter to homes and businesses.
Electra wanted to enhance their low voltage monitoring capability. Their primary goal was to more efficiently identify and locate outages and improve their customer service. Previously, real-time monitoring was limited to the high voltage network only.
The Solution
IoT Phase Loss Sensors Integrated via FME Flow
To improve power network outage event identification and restoration, Electra developed and deployed Internet of Things (IoT) Phase Loss Sensors across the low voltage network. These sensors provide data that Electra does not have access to and are connected via a private LoRaWAN network available throughout the region.
An event is detected when voltage traverses 160vac and a message is sent to the private IoT server cluster that securely manages the IoT gateways and device registration. The IoT server cluster forwards a MQTT (MQ Telemetry Transport) message to FME Flow, where an automation is triggered via webhook to parse the message into MultiSpeak and send it to the Milsoft Outage Management System (OMS) Server as either “Power Loss” or “Power Restored”. These events are used by the OMS Outage Prediction Engine in identifying the likely location of a fault.
The Results
Faster Fault Location, Reduced Complexity, and a Platform Built to Scale
Using FME to parse and send messages to the OMS and other services reduced complexity, increased data accessibility, and improved overall processing performance. With the incredibly scalable nature of the Phase Loss Sensor Integration project, the current deployment of 200 phase loss sensors can be extended into the millions with ease and support consistent and continuous improvement to customer service.
Why it Matters
For electricity distributors, the ability to pinpoint faults quickly isn’t just an operational efficiency — it’s directly tied to the experience of every customer sitting in the dark waiting for their power to come back on. When monitoring capability stops at the high voltage network, the last mile remains a blind spot.
By utilising FME to integrate IoT sensor data into outage management workflows, utilities can extend real-time network visibility all the way to the low voltage edge, improving fault detection speed, reducing manual investigation, and building a monitoring infrastructure that grows with their network rather than against it.
Success Stories
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Enhancements to low voltage monitoring power better customer service
Electra wanted to enhance their low voltage monitoring capability. Their primary goal was to more efficiently identify and locate outages and improve their customer service. Previously, real time monitoring was limited to the high voltage network only.