The power grid is vital to delivering the energy that people have come to expect in their personal and professional lives. Ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of high-quality power is the utility’s primary objective. While utilities have for many years met this goal very successfully, factors such as aging power grids, increasing demand and the incorporation of renewable energy are now leading many of them to transform the way they do business. To enable this transformation utilities are looking closely at a different kind of power — the power of the smart grid using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), to sustain and improve the security, reliability and efficiency of the grid. These technologies can be put into three general categories: sensing and control devices, applications, and the communications networks that bridge it all together. Utilities take then full advantage of innovations, driving smarter energy management and usage.