May 2026
Member Spotlight
In 2026, we will recognize one member each month, providing an organizational profile and highlighting the member's accomplishments in the smart energy space.
About SEW.AI
SEW.AI is the world's #1 trusted and only Vertical AI platform for energy and water, connecting Customers, Workforce and Grid Assets on one secure, cloud-native foundation. At its core is People + Vertical AI, purpose-built for energy and utilities, powered by human-centered intelligence that anticipates customer needs, empowers the workforce with real-time insights and optimizes grid performance for reliability and efficiency. With 3,000+ prebuilt use cases and pre-integration with 100+ industry systems, the company's platforms accelerate time-to-value and help utilities modernize operations from day one.
SEW.AI’s modular, interoperable architecture works with legacy systems and emerging technologies to scale transformation without disruption. Today, more than 470+ energy & utilities service providers worldwide run on SEW.AI, engaging billions, empowering end users and field teams with AI-driven agents, and orchestrating smarter, cleaner, more reliable grids, delivering higher satisfaction, improved performance and stronger outcomes. Learn more at www.sew.ai.
As energy and utilities balance reliability and affordability, a shift toward vertical AI is taking shape
For energy and utilities, reliability and affordability have long defined performance. What is changing is the environment in which those outcomes now need to be delivered.
The grid is becoming less predictable, shaped by distributed energy resources, electrification, and demand and supply disruptions. At the same time, cost pressures remain high, both for utilities managing infrastructure investments and for customers navigating rising energy bills.
The result is a more complex operating equation. Maintaining reliability is no longer only about infrastructure resilience. Affordability is no longer only about pricing. Both increasingly depend on how effectively utilities can anticipate, coordinate, and act across systems in real time.
That is where many organizations are beginning to encounter structural limits.
A service disruption today is not confined to the grid. It affects how quickly customers are informed, how field teams are deployed, and how operational costs evolve in response. In many utilities, these actions still move through separate systems, often with delays or incomplete context.
As these pressures converge, the question is shifting from whether utilities have the right systems to whether those systems can operate together under real-world conditions.
AI is beginning to play a role in addressing this challenge. However, early adoption suggests that generic AI models, while useful in isolated tasks, often fall short in environments where decisions are interconnected and operationally sensitive.
Utilities operate within tightly coupled systems, where customer behavior, grid conditions, workforce actions, and regulatory requirements are interdependent. This has led to growing interest in vertical AI, where intelligence is designed specifically around industry workflows and constraints.
SEW.AI and the Shift Toward Vertical AI
SEW.AI, a global technology company focused on energy and water utilities, has been building its platform around this premise. Its platform, SEW.AI COSMOS, is structured as a connected ecosystem and vertical AI operating system designed to embed intelligence directly into utility workflows rather than applying it as an external analytical layer.
The company works with more than 470 utilities across over 47 countries, reaching an estimated 1.4 billion people, and is expanding its footprint across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Its stated goal is to extend this reach significantly over the coming years, particularly in markets where digital access and energy engagement are still evolving.
Platform Approach and Capabilities
SEW.AI COSMOS brings together customer, workforce, business and grid systems into a shared operational layer, allowing actions to be coordinated rather than executed in isolation.
The platform currently supports more than 3,800 operational use cases across areas such as payments, outage management, energy programs, distributed energy resources and customer digital self-service. This breadth reflects the range of interactions that define day-to-day utility operations.
Its vertical AI foundation combines predictive, generative and agentic capabilities, enabling systems not only to analyze conditions but also to recommend or initiate actions within defined parameters. These capabilities are integrated across core enterprise systems, including billing, metering, outage management, ERP, CRM and GIS environments.
The platform also supports omnichannel engagement across digital and assisted channels, with an emphasis on maintaining context across interactions rather than treating each engagement independently.
In addition, SEW.AI has introduced AI copilots designed for different user groups, including customer service teams, field personnel, and business users. These copilots assist with routine workflows, provide decision support, and help improve response times in operational environments.
From an infrastructure perspective, the platform is built on a cloud-native architecture designed for scalability and high availability, with compliance frameworks aligned to regulatory requirements across multiple regions.
From Capability to Outcome
Utilities adopting such approaches are increasingly focused on measurable outcomes rather than system deployment alone. Reported improvements include higher customer engagement through proactive communication, increased workforce efficiency and more coordinated responses to grid events.
This connected platform approach is already in practice across utilities. At Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), the focus is on bridging the gap between customer and field operations to create a more coordinated, end-to-end service experience. Southwest Gas is enhancing service transparency through real-time, Uber-like “en route” visibility that brings customers closer to field activity.
For Salt River Project (SRP), which serves more than 2.5 million residents, the transformation reflects a broader shift toward a unified, intelligent digital foundation, extending its legacy of reliability into a future defined by personalized, omnichannel engagement and proactive participation in energy and sustainability programs.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is modernizing customer experience, including support for evolving models such as Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is advancing its CX transformation toward the next generation of customer journeys through emerging eMobility experiences and a deeper focus on energy efficiency.
DTE Energy is strengthening customer engagement for vulnerable users through financial assistance and energy affordability initiatives. Dominion Energy is enabling more adaptive experiences across diverse customer segments including residential, enterprise, agency and landlord users.
These outcomes are typically the result of aligning processes across customer, workforce and grid functions, rather than optimizing them independently.
Looking Ahead
Reliability and affordability, long treated as parallel objectives, are becoming more closely linked to the ability to act with speed, context and alignment.
In this environment, vertical AI platforms are emerging as a potential foundation for a more connected operating model, one where intelligence is embedded within workflows and where systems operate as part of a unified whole.
SEW.AI’s work reflects this transition, positioning its platform within a broader shift in how utilities approach operations, engagement and long-term resilience.
