A method for detecting partial discharges of an electrical operating device, wherein electromagnetic signals are captured at different positions of the operating device in a decentralized manner by a plurality of sensor apparatuses, where a sinusoidal phase progression is centrally determined for a voltage by a voltage-measuring assembly, and at least one phase point characterizing the phase progression is provided, and the electromagnetic signals are each provided with a time stamp, and a partial discharge signal is determined in each of the electromagnetic signals, and the at least one time stamp of the characterizing phase point and the time stamps of the partial discharge signals are taken into consideration by an evaluation assembly in a superposition of the sinusoidal phase progression with the partial discharge signals. An assembly detects partial discharges of an electrical operating device by the method.