AI and smart meter adoption have resulted in customers of utility AI firm Bidgely saving one terawatt-hour of energy. This is equivalent to nearly 709,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. The savings were made by energy utilities and retailers worldwide who employ machine learning, AI, and smart meters from the company.

Rocky Mountain Power, a Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company, achieved over 228 GWh energy savings at a cost savings of 25 percent compared to traditional energy efficiency programs by partnering with Bidgely. Vice President, Customer Experience & Innovation for Rocky Mountain Power William Comeau commented, “The transition to a sustainable future is a partnership with our customers, and it’s data that helps us target offerings specifically to them from an energy efficiency standpoint. Having that partnership with our customers helps them reduce their load during peak times, helps us keep costs low overall for our customers, and long term, bring on more sustainable solutions.”

Adam Grant, Director of Electrification & Energy Services for NV Energy, another Bidgely partner that yielded 13 GWh energy savings in the first year and 40 GWh in its first three years of its energy efficiency program, reflected, “We work extremely hard to be partners with our customers; to teach them ways to use and ways to save energy. Because of the data and targeted aspect of what we’re doing, this is not blanket marketing: we take what we know about precisely where and why customers were inefficient and help them become more efficient.”

“Machine learning, AI, and smart meter data enable highly targeted, strategic implementation of energy efficiency programs. This approach provides distributed energy resources (DER) integration, grid optimization, and increased energy efficiency to provide relief to a utility’s energy grid, while simultaneously providing bill savings to utility customers,” said Krystal Maxwell, Research Director, Guidehouse.

“As the electric grid changes and experiences growth due to electrification, real-time visibility and optimization of the power system will become crucial,” said Elizabeth Cook, an AEIC (Association of Edison Illuminating Companies) Chair and an industry leader and consultant for nearly twenty years. “By analyzing energy and targeting the problems, we can reduce carbon emissions while using existing electric grid infrastructure. Programs that manage energy production and distribution are not only beneficial for emissions reductions but can also improve regional energy burdens. With AI-insights of customer consumption patterns and informed incentives, utilities can serve customers more intelligently and further optimize grid operations.”

“Consumers today have strong environmental values and an openness to learning about how technology can lead to better societal outcomes. Despite a willingness, many still need more insights into what actions drive the biggest impact,” said Nathan Shannon, President and CEO of the SECC (Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative). “Through AI and energy analytics, we are seeing first-hand what happens when we engage consumers to make the entire grid smarter.”

“For years we have expected the energy transition to be built largely with increased renewable energy production. The reality is our greatest weapon rests with smarter energy,” said Jen Szaro, President and CEO, AESP (Association of Energy Services Professionals). “Bidgely’s milestone is proof that having detailed analysis of real-time usage directly leads to smarter consumption and deployment, creating a cleaner environment for all.”

“Adding more clean energy to the grid to tackle net-zero goals takes decades. Utilities – and society – need parallel future-ready solutions that make an impact now while also supporting more renewables on the grid,” said Bidgely CEO Abhay Gupta. “We’ve achieved emission offsets that would’ve required thousands of solar panels, hundreds of wind turbines and many years of project development obstacles by instead enabling smarter usage and deployment of the grid today.”