Kraken launches Autonomous Agents for utility customer service. June 12, 2026 Kraken is helping utilities automate complex customer journeys with AI agents built for energy-specific service and compliance requirements. Kraken has launched Autonomous Agents, a new suite of utility-specific AI agents developed in partnership with Sierra to help energy providers automate customer service and resolve complex customer journeys at scale. The solution combines Sierra's AI customer experience platform with Kraken's utility operating system, unified data model, and workflow engine. Designed specifically for the energy sector, Autonomous Agents enable utilities to design, test, and deploy AI-powered customer experiences using a no-code interface. The agents are built on Kraken's Utility-Grade AI and AI access layer, allowing them to access real-time account information, usage data, pricing details, and operational workflows while adhering to regulatory and compliance requirements. "We're excited to partner with Kraken - combining our platform with their industry expertise - to help utilities build better, more human experiences while also driving their revenue. Agent OS sets the standard for adaptability and transparency, enabling even regulated companies to go live in weeks with high CSAT and resolution rates," said Bret Taylor, Co-Founder, Sierra. According to Kraken, the technology has already been deployed at enterprise scale, going live within four weeks at a major energy utility and now supporting 1.3 million customer accounts. Bringing AI to utility customer service. Utilities are facing increasing pressure to improve customer experiences while managing growing operational complexity. Traditional IVR systems and generic conversational AI tools often struggle with utility-specific interactions that require deep domain expertise, access to live operational data, and compliance controls. Kraken said Autonomous Agents address these challenges by enabling AI agents to activate core business workflows in a structured and governed manner. The platform incorporates energy market logic, regulations, and operational rules that are continuously updated to ensure reliable customer interactions. "Energy is too important, too complex and too urgent for generic AI. That's why we're building specialised AI for utilities, combining Kraken's deep energy expertise, data models and AI-driven business engines with Sierra's leading technology," said Assaf Biderman, Chief AI Officer, Kraken. Scaling customer experience with AI. Built directly into Kraken's operating system, Autonomous Agents enable utilities to automate routine customer interactions while allowing human specialists to focus on cases that require additional judgment and expertise. The agents can access approved capabilities, request context, and trigger workflows across customer service operations. The launch forms part of Kraken's Open Kraken strategy, which aims to expand how utilities and partners build on its operating system. By embedding AI into utility workflows, the company seeks to help energy providers improve service quality, increase operational efficiency, and deliver more consistent customer experiences at scale. The launch reflects growing investment in industry-specific AI solutions that combine automation with domain expertise, enabling organisations to modernise customer service while maintaining trust, compliance, and reliability.

Kraken, an operating system for utilities, has launched Autonomous Agents in partnership with Sierra, deploying AI agents for utility customer service. The agents combine Sierra's AI platform with Kraken's utility data model and energy expertise to orchestrate complex workflows and deliver customer resolutions at scale. The system is already operational at enterprise scale, launching four weeks after project start with a major energy utility covering 1.3 million customer accounts. Built into Kraken's operating system, Autonomous Agents provide a no-code interface for operations leaders to design and deploy AI agents grounded in real-time account, usage and pricing data. Kraken supports over 90 million accounts worldwide and works with clients including EDF Energy, E.ON Next and National Grid. The company is headquartered in London and New York.

Schneider Electric and Kraken partner on demand-flexibility platform to speed data center grid connections. Key points * Schneider Electric and Kraken announced a global partnership on June 9, 2026 to build demand-flexibility tools for DSOs and utilities targeting faster data center grid connections [[1]] * Schneider contributes its One Digital Grid Platform and EcoStruxure DERMS; Kraken brings its AI-powered distributed energy resource orchestration platform used by utilities serving tens of millions of accounts [[1]] [[3]] * European data center grid connection queues currently stretch 7-10 years in core markets like Germany and the Netherlands, and up to 10-15 years in the UK [[5]] [[6]] * Global data center electricity demand reached approximately 415 TWh in 2024 and is projected to double by 2030, intensifying grid congestion [[1]] * Analysts estimate global demand-side flexibility is worth up to $1 trillion annually across industrial and commercial sectors [[2]] Schneider Electric and Kraken, the energy technology platform owned by Octopus Energy Group, announced a global partnership on June 9, 2026 to develop demand-flexibility solutions for distribution system operators (DSOs) and utilities. The combined offering targets a specific bottleneck in the AI buildout: multi-year grid connection queues that are delaying data center energization across Europe and beyond [[1]]. The partnership pairs Schneider's grid-side hardware and digital management tools - including its One Digital Grid Platform and EcoStruxure DERMS - with Kraken's AI-powered platform for orchestrating distributed energy resources such as EVs, batteries, heat pumps, and industrial flexible loads. Together, the companies aim to give utilities real-time visibility into network constraints, forecast congestion, and shift demand to unlock capacity on existing infrastructure without waiting for costly grid reinforcements [[1]] [[2]]. The deal arrives as data center developers face widening gaps between project timelines and grid readiness. Global data center electricity demand hit roughly 415 TWh in 2024 and is on track to double by 2030, according to industry estimates cited by Schneider [[1]]. In congested European hubs - Germany, the Netherlands, Dublin, and parts of the UK - connection lead times now range from 7 to 15 years for standard large-load applications [[5]] [[6]]. What the partnership delivers. Schneider Electric contributes its grid-management stack: the One Digital Grid Platform for real-time network visibility, EcoStruxure DERMS for distributed energy resource management, and its broader EcoStruxure ecosystem for predictive optimization and distributed control. On the customer side, Schneider's data center infrastructure - switchgear, UPS, microgrids, and on-site generation and storage - provides the physical flexibility assets [[1]] [[3]]. Kraken's platform, already licensed to utilities serving tens of millions of accounts worldwide - including EDF, E.ON, National Grid, and Origin Energy - adds the orchestration layer. The cloud-based system aggregates, forecasts, dispatches, and settles flexible demand across a utility's customer base, effectively turning controllable loads into a virtual power plant that grid operators can dispatch against congestion [[3]] [[4]]. The combined solution is designed to let utilities treat flexible customers - including data centers willing to modulate load during grid stress - as network assets. By demonstrating that capacity exists through demand response, operators can secure faster, conditional grid connections rather than waiting for full firm capacity [[1]]. The grid connection bottleneck. Grid connection delays have become the binding constraint on data center buildout in multiple European markets. In Germany, large-load connection queues now mirror Northern Virginia's roughly 7-year timelines. The Netherlands averages 10 years. Ireland's grid operator has effectively paused new data center interconnection agreements in the Dublin area until 2028 [[5]] [[6]]. The UK faces some of the most severe delays. Across England and Wales, approximately 176 GW of contracted projects are waiting for connections, with some dates pushed back up to 14 years. The UK government has begun consulting on accelerating connections for 'strategic demand' including data centers, but concrete results remain early-stage [[6]] [[7]]. Demand-side flexibility offers a workaround: if a data center can contractually commit to reducing or shifting load during periods of grid stress, the grid operator can approve its connection sooner by counting that flexibility as available capacity. This is the mechanism Schneider and Kraken are commercializing [[1]] [[2]]. Schneider's data center grid strategy. The partnership extends Schneider Electric's broader push toward what it calls 'grid interdependence' - a model where data centers use on-site generation, battery storage, and flexible load controls to operate as grid assets rather than purely passive consumers. In a January 2026 blog post, Schneider outlined how data centers could maintain operations during partial grid disconnection while simultaneously providing stability services back to the network [[8]]. Schneider is also a member of EPRI's DCFlex Initiative, an industry consortium focused on improving data center energy flexibility and grid integration [[9]]. The Kraken partnership adds a commercial software layer to these efforts, providing utilities with a platform that can contract, automate, and settle flexible capacity at scale. Schneider Electric, headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, France, trades on Euronext Paris under the ticker SU.PA and carries a market capitalization of approximately $175 billion. Its Energy Management division, led by EVP Frédéric Godemel, generated the majority of the company's revenue in 2025 [[10]]. Kraken's utility footprint. Kraken operates as the technology arm of Octopus Energy Group, a privately held UK-based energy company. The platform has been licensed to utilities across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, supporting tens of millions of customer accounts. Octopus has stated a target of surpassing 100 million accounts on Kraken by 2027 [[3]] [[4]]. In the United States, Kraken is deployed with National Grid in New York and Massachusetts to serve 6.5 million customers, and has run pilot programs with United Illuminating (Avangrid) combining multiple asset types into an intelligent demand program [[4]]. Octopus also recently acquired a majority stake in Uplight, a US grid-tech company, to scale digitalized flexibility in North America [[11]]. Kraken claims to operate the world's largest residential virtual power plant, aggregating EVs, home batteries, heat pumps, and smart thermostats into dispatchable flexibility resources for grid operators [[3]]. Market context. The partnership sits at the intersection of two accelerating trends: the explosion in data center power demand and the growing recognition that demand-side flexibility is a faster, cheaper alternative to building new grid infrastructure. Analysts cited by the partners estimate the global demand-side flexibility market at up to $1 trillion annually across industrial and commercial sectors [[2]]. For data center operators, the practical implication is that flexible interconnection agreements - where facilities commit to defined load curtailment during grid stress in exchange for faster connection - are becoming a standard path to energization in congested markets. The Schneider-Kraken platform provides the monitoring, dispatch, and settlement infrastructure that makes those agreements operationally viable [[1]] [[2]]. Companies mentioned.