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If you see a drone flying around the top of the power poles outside your house, it is probably not a nosy neighbor spying on your barbecue. It’s more likely to be one of a fleet owned by PG&E being used to check for wear and damage to lines and equipment in a way that is faster and less hazardous than sending humans out to do the same work.
“By using drones to inspect our overhead electrical assets,” PG&E spokesperson Andria Borba said, “we can ensure that they are in good working order and health. And if not, we can get a repair ticket made right away so we can keep the lights on before they potentially go out.”
Borba said the drones offer an “unmatched aerial advantage” in maintaining power lines that PG&E has not had before.
“Previously, workers climbing poles to do inspections could make it most of the way up the pole, but they couldn’t get a top-down view,” she said. “With the drones, we see the crossarms, the conductors and the insulators, down to the threads of a bolt.”
Off-site inspectors can then process drone images using software to look for abnormalities such as frayed conductors, loose or missing bolts, or even the top of a pole that’s been “pecked to death by woodpeckers.”
The drones require line-of-sight pilots on the ground, who work from a specific list of shots needed for each asset type.
“Be assured that our pilots are only taking photos of our electrical assets,” Borba said. “We are not taking photos of your property, your home, or your family. Those images don’t help us inspect our electrical system.”
The images are then uploaded to a platform called “Sherlock,” which lets inspectors zoom in at an almost microscopic level.
PG&E still has workers climbing poles daily for more complicated jobs, such as when an overhead tree canopy is too thick for a drone to navigate. But Borba said the drones can cover more distance in a day.
With a single inspection flight taking about 15 minutes, drones can do the work in far less time than it would take a human climbing close enough to capture the needed photos.
“We are not replacing people with drones,” Borba said. “But an electrical worker can only climb so many poles in a day. A drone can cover three to five miles worth of poles daily and really get us the information much quicker.”
Over the last three years, PG&E has equipped its drones with thermal imaging, which allows them to detect hotspots showing up in bright colors in the images, caused by heavy electrical loads.
“Those images allow us to see a potential issue quicker, and it can then be repaired to keep our overhead electrical assets safe and stop a problem before it can ever occur,” Borba said.
The drones are also used in annual inspections of high fire threat districts before dry weather seasons to verify line integrity, she said, as well as after power shutoffs to make sure there are no lines down and no damage from whatever caused the event.
All drone operations are restricted to daytime, visual line-of-sight flights and coordinated through PG&E’s Flight Core dispatchers to ensure compliance with FAA regulations, particularly regarding safety around aircraft.
“We’re always checking with the FAA to see if there’s an airport nearby, if there is a crop duster in the air, if there are helicopters from a nearby hospital that are in the air. And we’re always coordinating to make sure that we are maintaining safety,” Borba said.
All drone pilots are FAA-licensed and must maintain that status. Once licensed pilots also complete internal PG&E training to learn the shots needed to capture images that provide the best possible insights into asset condition.
Borba said the drones only fly at night and, because operators must maintain line-of-sight contact, an operator is nearby and easy to identify wherever a drone is flying above.
“They wear safety gear including a high-visibility safety vest, a hard hat, and they will have a PG&E badge on them,” she said. “If you see one in your neighborhood, we only ask that you wait until the drone has landed to approach them and ask them any questions you’d like.”
As of 2025, PG&E has conducted more than 290,000 flights over telephone poles along with more than 44,000 flights on transmission towers in its service areas.
“We are aiming to set new industry standards to make a more efficient and fully integrated inspection process,” Borba said “These drones are also making our electrical system safer and healthier for the public as well as for our own company.”
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