The Australian Energy Regulator’s State of the Energy Market 2025 report highlights urgent challenges for utilities. Aging infrastructure, inspection backlogs, and growing exposure to extreme weather events like bushfires, storms, and flooding are placing networks and crews under pressure. Regulators now demand more frequent reporting and faster response to hazards, making compliance and operational efficiency critical.
Manual asset inspections can’t keep pace. They are labour-intensive, expensive, and often dangerous in remote or hard-to-access areas. As compliance requirements rise, delays in inspections increase the risk of penalties, reputational damage, and unplanned outages. Utilities are under pressure to improve monitoring, accelerate fault detection, and enable predictive maintenance. This is where utility asset monitoring with drone automation and AI is proving its value.
Many utilities already invest in LiDAR or traditional inspection programs. The challenge is that these efforts often leave large image archives underutilised. Drone utility inspections supported by Unleash live unlock more value from existing data, turning standard RGB imagery into actionable insights at scale, without requiring new capture programs.
Tight budgets often slow adoption. The most effective programs begin with existing drone fleets or historical image archives. Small pilot teams quickly prove the value, showing faster reporting, lower inspection costs, and less manual effort. Many utilities see payback within months, helping them scale their efforts with confidence.
Scepticism around AI accuracy is common. Unleash live addresses this by benchmarking more than 50 fault classes with average F1 scores above 91 percent. Accuracy is validated against ground-truth datasets and customer QA processes. Utilities also have the ability to retrain models on their own data, ensuring transparency and continuous improvement.
Utilities don’t need a complete AI roadmap before taking action. Many begin with one priority asset type, such as insulators, and expand from there. Early results become the foundation for a broader strategy, helping teams build momentum while keeping compliance and governance aligned.
Changing hardware doesn’t need to be a roadblock. Unleash live is hardware-agnostic, integrating with DJI, Skydio, and fixed cameras. If procurement policies shift, workflows and models transfer seamlessly, avoiding costly disruption.
Previous drone and AI pilots often failed due to immature technology. Today, utilities worldwide use Unleash live in live production environments. Automated, repeatable capture, human-in-the-loop validation, and continuous retraining mean results improve over time rather than stalling after proof-of-concept.
A new platform should make inspections easier, not harder. Unleash live integrates directly with existing systems such as GIS, ESRI, SAP, and Maximo. Automated data ingestion and reporting reduce manual tasks for teams, freeing them to focus on higher-value work.
Protecting critical infrastructure data is non-negotiable. Unleash live runs on AWS with enterprise-grade compliance including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and FedRAMP. For stricter requirements, on-premise and edge deployments are supported.
The barriers to adoption are real, but they are manageable. By starting small, validating accuracy, and integrating into existing systems, utilities can overcome backlogs, reduce safety risks, and meet regulatory demands. Automated fault detection with drone inspections enables faster decision-making, predictive maintenance, and stronger climate resilience.
Unleash live helps utilities cut costs, improve safety, and reduce downtime with proven results in live operations. Our technology directly addresses the priorities raised in the AER’s 2025 report and is already helping utilities deliver safer, more efficient, and more resilient networks.
Read more in our Automated Utility Inspections Brochure.