Across North America, utilities are accelerating investments in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure as hyperscale data centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven industries are creating unprecedented levels of electricity demand. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global data centers consumed ~415 TWh in 2024, accounting for around 1.5 percent of all electricity demand. By 2030, this consumption is projected to more than double to 945 TWh, driven largely by AI.

Utilities are already responding to this shift. One of the largest US grid operators has introduced new approaches, such as a connect-and-manage framework, to integrate rapidly growing AI-driven load requests, while utilities across the country are expanding multi-billion-dollar capital investment programs to strengthen generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure for data center-driven electricity demand. Record demand over summer heatwaves has only reinforced the urgency of building an AI-ready grid.

The industry's focus is understandable. Reliable, resilient and affordable energy infrastructure will remain fundamental to enabling the AI economy. Yet amid the race to strengthen the grid, one equally important question remains largely unanswered: Who is preparing customer operations?

Every new gigawatt creates more than demand. It creates new customer relationships, new expectations and a new operational complexity that extends far beyond the capabilities of traditional service models. For utilities, the competitive imperative is not simply connecting more megawatts to the grid but managing the strategic customer relationships they create.

From Load Request to Business Relationship

A hyperscale AI data center begins as a grid connection request but quickly evolves into a long-term commercial partnership involving:

These organizations bring unprecedented energy consumption and heightened expectations around:

• Resilience
• Transparency
• Responsiveness

Every AI infrastructure project introduces new commercial, regulatory and community considerations. Utilities must balance economic growth with stakeholder expectations around grid capacity allocation, sustainability commitments, water usage and equitable access to infrastructure. With worldwide data center power demand expected to nearly triple from 104 GW in 2025 to 290 GW by 2030, utilities must balance increasing regulatory scrutiny over how growth is managed with the demands of a growing portfolio of strategic AI customers. Meeting these expectations requires rethinking traditional operating models to reflect a new reality: Customer operations is no longer simply a service function. It has become the point where customer experience, revenue operations, regulatory confidence and long-term business growth converge.

The Rise of Multi-Speed Customer Operations

Utilities are not becoming business-to-business organizations. Commercial and industrial customers have always been central to their portfolios. What is changing is the emergence of a new generation of strategic, energy-intensive customers with unprecedented scale and increasingly complex expectations.

At the same time, residential customers continue to expect affordable, transparent, digital-first experiences. The challenge is not choosing between these customer groups but delivering both with equal excellence.

Utility firms need a single, intelligent operating model capable of delivering digital-first experiences at residential scale while enabling enterprise-grade engagement for strategic commercial customers. The solution lies in multi-speed customer operations – an operating model that adapts to customer context without compromising consistency, operational excellence or regulatory confidence.

Figure 1. One Intelligent Customer Operating Model, Tailored to Distinct Customer Needs

Utilities have spent a decade digitizing customer journeys, modernizing billing platforms and expanding self-service capabilities. The next competitive advantage will come not from deploying more AI, but from orchestrating intelligence across customer operations.

Leading firms increasingly rely on Agentic AI to orchestrate intelligent workflows, recommend next-best actions and automate routine interactions, allowing customer-facing teams to focus on complex decisions where judgement, empathy and deep utility expertise create the greatest value.

From Linear Meter-to-Cash to Intelligent Revenue Orchestration

With data centers projected to drive nearly half of US electricity demand growth through 2030, utilities need intelligent revenue operations, not the traditional linear meter-to-cash workflows. Rather than reacting to downstream events, intelligent operating models connect onboarding, billing, payments, collections and revenue assurance to anticipate billing anomalies, payment risks and changing customer needs before they impact revenue or CX.

By combining Agentic AI, predictive analytics and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) oversight, these models enable faster, more informed decisions while maintaining the transparency and accountability required in regulated utility environments.

As utilities connect larger AI-driven loads, customer operations increasingly sit at the intersection of commercial relationships, regulatory accountability and stakeholder confidence. Explainable AI, intelligent knowledge management and deep regulatory expertise will be essential to navigating evolving compliance requirements while strengthening customer trust.

The Next Competitive Advantage

The AI economy demands more than resilient grids – it requires equally resilient customer operations. As utilities prepare for AI-driven growth, three questions deserve executive attention:

• Can the existing operating model serve both residential customers and strategic AI-driven commercial accounts?
• Are we using AI to automate tasks or improve decisions across the customer lifecycle?
• Are customer operations equipped to strengthen trust with customers, regulators and communities?

About the Author

Carlos Zapatero

Senior Vice President
North America Sales, Utilities

Carlos Zapatero partners with energy and utility organizations across North America to drive AI-enabled transformation across customer experience, meter-to-cash operations and intelligent business operations. With over two decades of experience in operational transformation and customer operations, he helps utilities improve operational resilience, revenue performance and customer engagement in an increasingly complex energy landscape.