Partnership brings AI-powered consumer analytics to rural communities, improving grid management, energy education and more.
Understanding where, when, and which appliances are drawing the most power can be helpful for customers who want to manage their energy use and help utilities who want to help them with budgeting and bills. However, software that provides insight like that can be expense and out of reach for utility cooperatives.
On November 2, National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC), an IT provider for utility co-ops, said it has integrated Bidgely’s UtilityAI solution into its service platform to enhance customer experience its utility cooperative members.
Bidgely’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy insights are embedded within NISC’s software platform to provide utility members with a 360-degree view of their energy consumers, which can serve to improve various customer touch points, such as customer service, call center experiences and targeted marketing programs.
The company said that applying AI and machine learning techniques to smart meter data through the Bidgely solution itemizes a household’s energy usage down to the appliance level. Equipped with behind-the-meter energy intelligence, utility cooperatives can not only make more informed business decisions for grid management and planning but also encourage greater energy efficiency among consumers, resulting in higher engagement and loyalty. NISC said its utility cooperative members can apply Bidgely energy insights to:
- Increase customer satisfaction by providing relevant energy insights that educate and empower consumers to better manage their energy costs.
- Improve call center experiences by equipping utility representatives with at-a-glance customer information to resolve issues quickly and at a lower cost-to-serve.
- Reduce call center inquiries by providing budget alerts, forecasting tools and monthly summaries that minimize bill-related questions or surprises.
- Provide time- and cost-efficient program targeting by accurately identifying consumers for program enrollment (i.e. time-of-use rates; load shifting) and personalizing marketing communications based on consumption patterns.
- Increase grid resilience through a better understanding how energy flows along the grid, including electric vehicle (EV) detection, high demand times of use and distributed energy resource generation.
“We are proud to partner with NISC in bringing the next wave of advanced digital technology to utilities in rural communities across the U.S. for the first time, which traditionally has only been available to large utility corporations,” said Abhay Gupta, CEO of Bidgely. “One of the greatest aspects of AI is that it can be implemented universally, which is what we believe is essential in achieving greater energy equity around the world.”
Watch a video message from Gupta below:
