Distribution transformers sit on poles and pads across every town, and most are replaced when they fail, not before. Clampwise makes a sensor that clamps onto the transformer, reads temperature, load and oil condition, and reports the result to the utility’s planning team. A crew installs one in eleven minutes, without a shutdown.

Mirela Costin designed sensors for an instrument maker. Joe Banerjee spent nine years on a utility’s asset-management team. They built the product to be insured and installed by a crew that has never heard of them. The planner gets a number and a trend, not a dashboard.

Clampwise has 2,400 sensors in service across three utilities, and its readings have flagged 41 units for early replacement, a few of which would have taken out a feeder in a heat wave. The company is working toward its first listing under a recognized safety standard.