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Agents for working to the regulator's deadlines.
Wednesday morning at a network operator. There are 40 new applications for EV chargers and solar PV in the inbox, and each one needs someone to check the GIS and the network calculation. Alongside them sits a pile of market communication exceptions, most of them with a known fix. Since June 2025, a change of electricity supplier has to go through within 24 hours, which leaves almost no room for exceptions to sit around. And a customer is asking about their monthly payment for the third time. Utilities work to deadlines set by the regulator, and the data they need sits in the billing system, the GIS and assorted inboxes. We bring it together. Then an agent prepares the cases that come up every day.
Done
Awaiting approvalApproval by a colleague
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Where your time goes today
Connection applications for EV chargers and solar PV are piling up. Each one needs a check in the GIS and a network calculation, and only network planning can do that.
When a customer queries their monthly payment, the email gets passed around three times before anyone has the contract and the meter reading in front of them.
Market communication throws up exceptions every day that we clear by hand, even though for most of them we've long known what the fix is.
Six processes an agent can take on here
Each one sets out what comes in, what the agent checks, what goes out and when a person has the final say. Your own process will have its quirks, and that is the one we want to hear about.
Check a grid connection application
IntakeAn application for solar PV, an EV charger or a heat pump, with the address, the capacity and the name of the installer who submitted it.
DecisionThe agent checks that the application is complete and assigns it to a network node. It compares the requested capacity with the available headroom and recognises whether it is a standard case.
ResultA draft approval. If it isn't that simple, a request for assessment goes to network planning with all the documents in one place.
Resolve a market communication exception
IntakeA rejected or faulty market message, for example a change of supplier where the master data doesn't match.
DecisionThe agent finds the cause of the error and checks the metering point, address and other data against the billing system. It then chooses the correction that applies in cases like this.
ResultA corrected message, or a proposed correction in the billing system.
Answer a customer's billing query
IntakeAn email or portal request about a bill, a monthly payment or a meter reading.
DecisionThe agent looks at the contract, consumption, meter readings and tariff, and works out whether the bill is right or needs correcting.
ResultA draft reply explaining to the customer what happened, with a correction order in the billing system where needed.
Prepare a payment reminder
IntakeAn unpaid monthly payment or an overdue annual bill from the billing system, with the customer, the amount and the due date.
DecisionThe agent checks incoming payments, existing payment plans and open complaints to see whether a reminder is appropriate at all.
ResultA draft payment reminder, or a note to the credit control team explaining why this account should not be chased.
Compare tenders for network construction work
IntakeThree to five tenders from civil engineering and electrical contractors for a project that has gone out to tender, each a PDF with its own bill of quantities layout.
DecisionThe agent maps the items to your bill of quantities, picks out gaps and alternative items, and compares the prices with your framework rates.
ResultA tender comparison with the discrepancies highlighted and a recommended award in the procurement system.
Schedule a meter exchange
IntakeA routine meter exchange that is due, or a smart meter installation, with the metering point, the address and the deadline from the rollout plan.
DecisionThe agent checks the meter type, access and previous attempts to contact the customer. It suggests an appointment and groups metering points on the same street.
ResultA draft appointment proposal to the occupier and a scheduled job in your field engineers' workforce management system.
Your process is not on the list?
Then it is probably the more interesting one. Use our Process Check to describe what piles up every week in three sentences, and we will tell you honestly whether an agent could take it on.
Resolve a market communication exception
We usually start with market communication exceptions. The types of error are well known and come up every day. Every exception cleared is one less deadline that can be missed, and your team sees that in the first week.
Our target50%less time is the aim for processing a standard grid connection application. The complex cases reach network planning with the paperwork already prepared.
Agentreads
Done09:41
Awaiting approvalApproval by a colleague
Log
What the agent needs
The agent needs contracts, metering points and billing data from the billing system, network data from the GIS, documents from the DMS and access to the customer inboxes. We hold these sources together in a Microsoft Fabric lakehouse, and all personal data is classified with Purview. The result is one set of data that both your regulatory reports and the agent can rely on.
Typical systems in your industry
SAP IS-USAP S/4HANA UtilitiesSchleupenMicrosoft Dynamics 365Esri ArcGISDocuWare
Questions energy companies ask us
We're bound by deadlines set by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). Does the agent help with that or put it at risk?
It helps, because it knows the deadline for each case and prioritises accordingly. Anything it can't resolve goes to a person, along with how much time is left. Every step is logged in case anyone asks later.
Can consumption data be put into an AI?
We hear this question a lot. The answer is yes, as long as the AI stays within your organisation. The data remains in Azure in the EU and is not passed to the model provider, and the models in Microsoft Foundry are not trained on it. Purview classifies the data, and roles in OneLake control which fields the agent can see at all.
Our billing system is old. Will this still work?
In most cases, yes. We've seen our share of old systems. The agent works through existing interfaces, through exports or directly through market communication. In the Assess phase, we establish which route is right for you.
How is this different from a chatbot on the customer portal?
A chatbot answers the customer, and it can carry on doing that. The agent deals with the case behind the question: it checks the system, prepares the correction and passes it on for approval.
What challenge is your business facing?
Your challenge is what interests us most. Send us a few lines about it. We will look at it free of charge, based on the systems you use today, and tell you honestly whether an agent is worth it.
