SEPA and Bidgely Release Report on the Power of AI for Transportation Electrification

WASHINGTON & LOS ALTOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 11, 2025--

Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), in partnership with Bidgely, has released a new Insight Brief: AI for Transportation Electrification. SEPA's insight brief, designed to educate utility stakeholders, highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) enables advanced grid impact analysis and facilitates better management of future electric vehicle (EV) demand. Case studies from leading utilities like Hydro One and NV Energy demonstrate how AI-powered tools enhance program evaluation and customer recruitment for load-shifting initiatives through EV detection and charging characterization.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250211500762/en/

“SEPA’s collaboration with Bidgely underscores the critical role of AI in addressing the complexities of transportation electrification,” stated Sheri Givens, President and CEO of SEPA. “Together, we are providing utilities with practical strategies to advance EV adoption while ensuring grid resilience.”

With a focus on Bidgely’s disaggregation technology, SEPA outlines the key advantages utilities gain by disaggregating advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) data to gain insights into EVs and EV users in their service territories, including:

Detailing the innovative application of AI software by two North American utilities, the report explores how AI-powered data insights help solve unique challenges posed by EV adoption and integration.

For example, Hydro One, an electricity transmission and distribution utility serving the Canadian province of Ontario, identified 20,000 EVs charging on its grid via AMI data disaggregation—10 times more than were self-reported through customer surveys. Hydro One further refined its customer engagement strategy using AI-powered consumption insights to personalize messages for enrollment in a pilot EV demand response program, resulting in 300 signups within 24 hours.

For NV Energy, a generation, transmission, and distribution utility serving northern and southern Nevada, AI-powered data disaggregation allowed the utility to gain a holistic understanding of how often EV drivers charge on-peak and how their behavior contributes to overall electricity demand. By using AI to identify certain customer use profiles and then engage only customers with high-value baseline charging behavior, NV Energy achieved a load-shift potential of 2 - 4 kilowatts (kW)/vehicle per managed charging event as opposed to typical load shifts of 0.2 - 0.8 kW/vehicle per event— 2.5 times to 10 times greater load-shift on average. Targeted load shifting initiatives like these can enhance utilities’ system resilience capabilities as EV charging increases, while yielding cost efficiencies for utilities and customers.

"AI is crucial for utilities to proactively address the grid challenges posed by the surge in electric vehicles," stated Abhay Gupta, CEO of Bidgely. "We support SEPA in creating a valuable resource that underscores the importance of developing sophisticated EV programs powered by AI-driven data analytics."

To read SEPA’s Insight Brief: AI for Transportation Electrification in its entirety, visit: sepapower.org/resource/insight-brief-ai-for-transportation-electrification

About SEPA

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a 501(c)(3) organization with over 1,000 members, accelerates the transition to a clean, affordable, and resilient electricity system for all. SEPA engages with its diverse membership -- which includes utilities, policymakers, regulators, and technology providers -- through education, collaboration and convening, and the search for innovative policy, regulatory, and technology solutions. For more information, please visit www.sepapower.org.

About Bidgely

Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI™ Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographics, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a distributed energy resources (DER) and grid edge perspective, Bidgely is advancing smart meter innovation with data-driven solutions for solar PVs, electric vehicle (EV) detection, EV behavioral load shifting and managed charging, energy theft, short-term load forecasting, grid analytics, and time of use (TOU) rate designs. Bidgely’s UtilityAI™ energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation and consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 16 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog.

New report demonstrates how AI-powered tools support grid resilience and enhance energy management strategies amidst growing electric vehicle adoption. (Graphic: Business Wire)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday for the fourth meeting in a row as the economy in the 20 countries that use the euro increasingly looks strong enough to get by without the stimulus of lower borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

The bank’s rate-setting council left the benchmark deposit rate unchanged at 2%, where it has been since a rate cut in June. Economists now think the rate could stay there for months - and possibly into 2027.

That’s because the ECB remains poised between inflation that’s just a bit too persistent and growth that’s underwhelming but steady after a trade deal with the US remove some of the uncertainty that had held back business planning. Higher rates fight inflation while cuts support growth.

The bank said in a statement following the decision that economic growth “is expected to be stronger” than in the bank's last projections in September, while inflation in services businesses was declining more slowly, even as overall inflation was expected to stabilize at the bank's 2% target.

Surveys of purchasing managers by S&P Global slipped slightly for December but still showed business activity expanding as the year comes to an end, reinforcing expectations that the 20 countries using the euro currency will continue to see growth of around 0.3% per quarter over the previous quarter, said Adrian Prettejohn, Europe economist at Capital Economics.

That outcome is better than feared during turbulent trade negotiations with the United States over the summer, which finally settled with a 15% tariff, or import tax, imposed on European goods by U.S. President Donald Trump.

That is not great for European exporters. But Trump had threatened higher rates and the deal struck with the European Union's executive commission appears to have removed uncertainty and made it easier for businesses to make decisions.

So the economy can get by without the added boost from a cut, analysts say.

“The haze of economic uncertainty has somewhat lifted, especially regarding trade,” economist Lorenzo Codogno said.

On top of that, inflationary pressures remain too high for the ECB to contemplate a cut.

The headline rate of 2.1% for annual inflation in November is roughly in line with the bank's goal of 2%, thanks in part to a drop in volatile energy prices. But inflation was higher at 3.5% in the services sector, which encompasses much of the economy from hairdressers and hotels to concert tickets and medical services.

While the ECB stood pat, the Bank of England on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the first time in four months as stubbornly high inflation starts to ease. Policymakers voted 5-4 to reduce the base rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75% on Thursday. Consumer price inflation slowed to 3.2% in the 12 months through November, from 3.6% a month earlier.

Central bank rate cuts can support growth because they strongly influence borrowing rates throughout the economy, lowering credit costs and promoting credit sensitive purchases such as new homes by consumers or new production facilities by businesses. Higher rates have the opposite effect and are used to contain inflation by dampening demand for goods.

FILE - The European Central Bank is seen near the river Main in Frankfurt, Germany, early Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)