A method and apparatus detect and localize electric faults in electrical power grids and circuit. High impedance faults are detected by analyzing data from remote sensor units deployed over the network using the algorithms of speech and speaker analysis software. This is accomplished by converting the voltage and/or current waveform readouts from the sensors into a digital form which is then transmitted to a computer located either near the sensors or at an operations center. The digitized data is converted by a dedicated software or software/hardware interface to a format accepted by a reliable and stable software solution, such as speech or speaker recognition software. The speech or speaker recognition software must be “trained” to recognize various signal patterns that either indicate or not the occurrence of a fault. The readout of the speech or speaker recognition software, if indicating a fault, is transmitted to a central processor and displayed to provide information on the most likely type of fault. Automatic or human decision is then implemented based on the generated information.