A systems and methods for monitoring an electrical power distribution grid including a plurality of sensor devices forming a sensor wireless network are disclosed. Each sensor device monitors and measures attributes of line current for an associated electrical power distribution line at a selected location. A sensor device detects a fault on the branch of the power grid, determines if the one of the plurality of sensors is at a tail end, sends a fault detected message to an adjacent upstream sensor, or otherwise sends a sleep command to an adjacent downstream sensor from the tail end sensor to disable transmission.