Guidehouse
Nicole Fry is a director in Guidehouse’s Communities, Energy & Infrastructure segment, leading strategic engagements for utilities across North America. Nicole helps clients navigate the global energy transition, applying nearly fifteen years of experience advising the U.S. Department of Energy in the areas of program and project management, market analysis, and regulatory studies to support decarbonization, reliability, and resilience. She is passionate about delivering transformational outcomes and excels at leading cross-functional teams that collaborate to solve complex challenges using innovative approaches and new technology.
What are some no-regrets AI use cases that utilities should consider, and which can have a sustained long-term impact?
Nicole Fry: The energy industry is at a pivotal moment, with utilities increasingly turning to AI to address pressing challenges and seize new opportunities. Among the myriad AI applications, several stand out as no-regrets use cases that utilities should consider for immediate benefits as well as long-term impact.
Customer Service – Enhanced customer service improvements offer clear value but can be challenging because existing systems are both embedded and heavily customized. To overcome these challenges, utilities should start by exploring solutions that enhance customer service capabilities without fully replacing their core systems. These solutions can streamline processes, improve information access, and enable smarter, faster searches, delivering immediate value to customers and employees alike.
Employee Operations – AI can also significantly improve the efficiency and satisfaction of utility employees by simplifying how they fill out forms, improving access to information, and enabling smarter, faster searches. These enhancements not only boost productivity, but they also contribute to a more engaged and motivated workforce.
Regulatory Activities – Finally, AI offers substantial benefits for regulatory support activities. Utilities can leverage AI to streamline regulatory tasks, such as gathering and analyzing data for benchmarking and supporting compliance filings. By automating these processes, AI reduces the administrative burden, enhances accuracy, and ensures timely compliance with regulatory requirements.
Looking into the future, more comprehensive strategic use cases like load generation and demand management should be in the pipeline for utilities as well, but these will take longer to develop and will require more advanced data integration. By prioritizing no-regrets AI applications to support enhanced customer service, employee operations, and regulatory activities, utilities can be better prepared to navigate the complexities of the evolving industry and drive a reliable, affordable, and resilient energy future.
