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Service · Energy and utilities

AI for regulated energy and utility companies

Settlement, metering, billing and customer contact each come with their own rules and data. We help you bring AI into that work with the controls that your licence conditions and Ofgem's guidance call for.

Comonad helps Ofgem-regulated energy companies use AI in operations such as billing, metering data and customer contact, with decision rights, controls and evidence mapped to Ofgem's guidance on ethical AI use in the energy sector.

Alex was co-founder and CTO of Cloud KB from August 2015 to March 2022. The company built software for the energy sector and supported SMETS2 installations from the early stages of the roll-out, and it was acquired by private equity in 2022.

The engagement follows the pattern of our AI operations work. We take one function at a time and write the controls before anything is switched on, and there is always a tested way back. The control set itself is the work of our AI governance consultancy.

Tell us which part of your operation you are looking at, and which rules it has to keep.

Discuss AI in energy
  • COOs and operations directors
  • CTOs and CIOs
  • Regulation, risk and compliance
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Where AI fits in an energy business

Much of the day-to-day effort in a supplier or a network goes into operational work: handling exceptions in meter reads and industry data flows, billing queries, debt and vulnerability cases, switching issues, and planning and fault work on the network side. Much of it is rule-bound and well recorded, which makes it a reasonable candidate for an agent. Some of it touches vulnerable customers and licence conditions, and there the controls matter more than the choice of model.

We start by sorting the work into three groups: what an agent can do on its own, what it can prepare for a person to decide, and what it should leave alone. Customer outcomes and the duties to vulnerable customers stay with named people in your organisation.

The rules that apply

There is no single AI law for the GB energy sector. Ofgem's guidance sits on top of the licence conditions and consumer protection you already work under, and does not replace them. We map controls to what applies; your counsel decides how the law applies.

What an engagement covers

  • Work map

    The operational processes in scope, their data flows and deadlines, and which steps an agent could take, prepare or must leave alone. Output: a written map and a recommendation on where to start, or not to.

  • Controls and mapping

    Decision rights, approvals for anything that affects a customer's bill or supply, treatment of vulnerable customers, logging and rollback, mapped to Ofgem's guidance and the rules above.

  • Build or pilot

    The agent runs beside the team that does the work now, inside the controls, through our agent harness practice. People keep the decisions reserved for them.

  • Handover or managed run

    Your team takes it over with runbooks and the way to stop the agent, or we run it for you as a managed service, with a clause that lets you take it back.

What you keep

  • Work map

    Processes, data flows and deadlines, and where an agent should and should not act.

  • Control set

    Decision rights, approvals and rollback, mapped to Ofgem's guidance.

  • Pilot record

    What the agent did, what a person accepted, and what was sent back.

  • Runbooks

    How to operate, monitor and stop the agent.

How an engagement runs

What we do not do

  • We do not give legal advice. Legal sign-off stays with your counsel.
  • We do not resell a model, an agent platform or a coding assistant, and we take no referral fees.
  • We do not replace your regulatory affairs team or speak to Ofgem on your behalf.
  • We do not start a pilot on customer-facing work before the controls for vulnerable customers are written.

Who it is for

  • Energy suppliers with large operations teams handling billing, metering and customer contact.
  • Network operators looking at AI for planning, asset and fault work.
  • Other energy-market participants and their software and service providers.

Water companies face a similar mix of regulation and operational work, and the same approach applies.

Alex Vakhitov, founder of Comonad Limited

Alex Vakhitov

Founder, Comonad · AI and software architect, London

Alex Vakhitov founded Comonad in 2024. An AI and software architect, he was co-founder and CTO of Cloud KB, UK energy-market software, from August 2015 to March 2022.

Read Alex Vakhitov's profile

Questions about AI in energy

Is Ofgem's AI guidance mandatory?

Ofgem describes it as good-practice guidance that it encourages the sector to adopt, which sits within the existing regulatory framework. Your existing obligations still apply in full, which is why we map controls to both.

What is your energy background?

Alex was co-founder and CTO of Cloud KB from August 2015 to March 2022. It built software for the energy sector and supported SMETS2 installations from the early stages of the roll-out. Cloud KB was acquired by private equity in 2022.

Does the EU AI Act apply to us?

It can reach UK firms that place AI on the EU market or whose AI output is used in the EU. It may not apply to GB-only operations, but group structures and suppliers can change that, so take legal advice. See Does the EU AI Act apply to UK companies?

Are you tied to a vendor?

No. We work with the models and tools your policies allow and take no resale or referral fees.

Sources

Related

Discuss AI in energy

Tell us which part of your operation you are looking at, and which rules it has to keep.

Discuss AI in energy