AI in the energy sector guidance consultation

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents tremendous opportunities for Great Britain’s energy sector. It has huge potential as a critical tool in transforming energy infrastructure and improving the services delivered to energy consumers. 

AI is already being utilised within the sector, for example AI is being used to summarise case history and draft email responses for customer agents. AI is also used to improve grid planning, maintenance, and operations. These and future uses of AI should provide value for consumers and support the country’s net zero ambitions, including the mission to deliver Clean Power by 2030.

The UK government expects regulators to offer guidance and toolkits to encourage safe and responsible use of AI. Therefore, we must ensure AI is used ethically, which means energy companies put in place appropriate governance, robust risk management and the right capability across the AI life cycle to address the potential harms of this technology.  

Our ethical approach to the adoption of AI by the sector aims to deliver safe, secure, fair and sustainable outcomes for consumers. Key to this is ensuring energy companies have the right decision-making capability around the AI. We encourage the sector to appropriately plan around and understand its limitations. In doing so, we can ensure that consumers are treated fairly and transparently, and without bias.  

We also recognise that AI has an environmental impact and therefore must go hand-in-hand with our net zero goals. Without environmentally sustainable practices, the potential gains AI presents may be at the cost of a larger carbon footprint. 

As AI technology is evolving rapidly, we believe the sector requires a regulatory framework that is adaptive and able to respond to this changing landscape. We consider our approach to be proportionate, but we have not ruled out going further in the future. 

Alongside this consultation, we are launching an AI Regulatory Laboratory (AI Reg Lab), open to all energy companies. This novel regulatory innovation provides another avenue for us to test our guidance to create the right regulatory approach and we encourage sector participation.  

We continue our commitment to support AI-driven innovation in the energy sector through the Strategic Innovation Fund, delivered in partnership with UK Research and Innovation, while also collaborating on broader government initiatives, including the Advanced Research and Invention Agency and the Manchester Prize funded by Department of Science Innovation and Technology. 
 
I would like to thank you for your input into this consultation, which will provide valuable insight towards effectively regulating AI use in the energy sector. Your contributions will enable us to harness the opportunities this exciting technology presents while fulfilling our core objective as a regulator: to maximise the potential benefits of AI for energy consumers whilst protecting them from potential harms. 
 

Jonathan Brearley, Chief Executive