PQ issues are very much important for utilities, customers and end users and it is essential to be known by the concerned authorities or users for reduction of economic losses due to the poor PQ. The cost of poor PQ is high and rising. The paper gives insights on global economical losses due to poor PQ. The business risk posed by PQ problems is a real one with even ‘low tech’ industries exposed to serious financial losses. The global economic meltdown is not the only factor that is pulling down the revenues of Asian countries. A study released said Indian industries lost more than $ 9.6 billion in 2008–09 due to power outages. According to 2008 reports, poor power quality costs European business more than 150 billion dollars a year. In this paper, a comprehensive survey on different power quality related problems as experienced by customers in different countries are highlighted. Summary of PQ costs are given. As the consequence of poor PQ might have large financial impacts on a country's economy, more initiatives are expected from the concerned parties and regulating bodies to take corrective measures for maintaining better power quality from utility and at end users. Smart grid requires intelligent PQ monitoring to solve different PQ related problems. Authors proposed an intelligent power quality monitoring system that will help to detect different PQ disturbances and consequently assist in employing or implementing appropriate mitigation techniques.