Gridscope Camera Privacy
At Gridware, our mission is to protect the grid today and prepare the grid for tomorrow, and that work depends on the trust of the communities where our technology is installed. Keeping the grid safe goes hand in hand with building technology that respects and protects your privacy. That's why earning and keeping your trust guides how we handle data.
The Gridscope is a compact, solar-powered sensor that electric utilities install on power poles to detect hazards like a branch on a line, a leaning pole, or a power line on the ground, so crews can respond quickly and keep your power on safely. Some of that work relies on cameras in the Gridscope. This page explains what those cameras do, what they don't do, and the steps we take to protect the privacy of people who live and work near the grid.
Our approach
Privacy by design
We build privacy into our products and processes. Our cameras are fixed in place, can't zoom or be re-aimed, and take only still,
low-resolution images, never video.
Used for grid safety
Our mission shapes how we use data. Images from our cameras are used to verify hazards and help deliver accurate alerts.
Committed to transparency
We're open about how the Gridscope works, including what its cameras can and can't see, and when and why they capture images.
The role of the cameras in a Gridscope
A Gridscope's sensors detect hazards through electrical, environmental, and physical signals (such as tilt and vibration). Its cameras are occasionally used to provide visual context, such as a tree branch on the power line, a crew doing line maintenance, or a live line on the ground. That context can help your utility send the right crew to the right place, and restore power safely and more quickly.
Image capture and storage
The Gridscope is not a video surveillance system and is not designed, marketed, or deployed as one. Its cameras do not record video. They capture still images at intervals, which are stored on the device and deleted on a rolling basis.
The vast majority of images never leave the device, so they're never analyzed or seen by anyone. Images are automatically overwritten after about 30 days. In certain limited circumstances, an upward (sky) facing image and/or an outward (electric line span) facing image, captured at or around the time of a potential hazard, are sent to Gridware and the electric utility in association with an alert.
What the cameras see
Gridscope cameras are designed to take pictures of power lines and structures, not people. Each Gridscope has two cameras: one looks straight up at the pole-top equipment and sky, and the other looks out along the power line toward the next pole. The cameras have a fixed focal length and are physically fixed in orientation within the sealed enclosure. They have no optical zoom and no mechanical pan or tilt capability, and cannot be remotely repointed.
Because the cameras are mounted high on a pole, nearby surroundings such as a yard, a driveway or the outside of a home can appear in the background. At the height and distance the Gridscope is mounted, the images typically have little detail beyond the pole and power lines. They're enough to show that a building or vehicle is there, not enough to see into windows nor to identify someone.
Automatic privacy protections
Faces that may appear in the background of images of the electric line span taken by a Gridscope are generally not legible given the mounting height and standoff distance of a pole-mounted device. In rare instances, the image of an individual in close proximity to a Gridscope installed on a utility pole (e.g., someone climbing up a pole) may be captured. Out of an abundance of caution, Gridware applies an automated process designed to detect and redact human faces in the captured images it receives.
Image use, including AI
Images are used to verify hazards. They confirm what's happening on the line such as detect pole top fires to help the utility respond quickly and safely.
Automated redaction
Every image Gridware receives goes through an automated model that detects faces so they can be redacted. The model detects only that a face is present. It doesn't identify who anyone is.
Line maintenance detection
AI models help review images to recognize planned work on the line so routine maintenance isn’t mistaken for a hazard.
What we don't do
We don't use Gridscope images for facial recognition, to identify individuals, or to monitor people's activity.
Who can see images
Images sent to Gridware can be accessed only by authorized Gridware personnel and by authorized utility personnel, and only for the purposes described above.
Questions or concerns
If you have a question or concern about a Gridscope near you, contact your electric utility or email us at legalfile@gridware.io. If you know the pole location or pole number, please include it.
Last updated: October 13, 2026. We may update this page from time to time as our technology and practices change.