From finding the most efficient routes for routine drone patrols to automatically switching off electricity currents when power-lines are down, Endeavour Energy is using artificial intelligence to improve customer service and drive efficiency throughout its operation, say company executives.
With 1.2 million connected customers in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and covering an area south beyond Ulladulla, the NSW energy distributor uses AI to maximise sustainability, says Endeavour’s Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, Leanne Pickering.
“AI helps us find and fix problems effectively, before they lead to a power outage,” Pickering says. “So we’re able to more efficiently manage the network, keep it on track, maintain it, and send our crews to the right place at the right time.”
A finalist in the Established Business-to-Consumer category of the Australian Financial Review’s Customer Champions list, Endeavour Energy has embraced the massive potential of artificial intelligence.
One of three electricity distribution networks in NSW, with a footprint that includes the growth zone of Western Sydney, Endeavour expects to connect about 20,000 new customers every year. As well as a growing residential population, industry experts anticipate Western Sydney will see about $50 billion worth of investment in new infrastructure following the new international airport, new cities yet to be built, including energy-hungry data centres, hospitals, and new roads and rail.
Artificial intelligence is used throughout Endeavour’s operation to streamline processes and save on expenditure.
As part of the company’s bushfire, maintenance and vegetation program, Endeavour uses AI to optimise routes flown by an army of drones. These drones capture, stream and assess millions of images of power line routes to identify faults and label assets for team review.
Drone flights have replaced the regular fuel-hungry helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft patrols once necessary to assess where vegetation was too close power lines and determine when the network needed repair. These drones are now inspecting as many as 2,000 power poles a day.
“We’re focused on making sure our customers get a reliable, sustainable, efficient, and affordable energy supply,” Pickering says. “And the more we can identify potential problems and not waste our crews’ time, then the more they can work to make sure the network is functioning in the right way.”
Endeavour uses Microsoft’s generative AI CoPilot internally, she adds, and the company’s own proprietary version of ChatGPT, called EnerGPT, to enable contact centre agents to search for accurate information to provide to customers in real-time, she adds. This in turn reduces call centre escalation and boosts customer satisfaction.
The EnerGPT system is also used by Endeavour staff to provide rapid solutions to thorny problems and search for useful data and background information. “It helps our own teams to get the right information at their fingertips, faster and more efficiently,” Pickering says.
On a far broader scale, Endeavour now uses AI to see where voltages are moving across the network, so power can be moved around in a more effective manner. A series of automated switches that can switch power on or off have been rolled out across the Endeavour network. A technology system called FLISAR (Fault Location Identification System and Rectification) uses AI to pinpoint faults in the network.
If a tree falls on a line somewhere in Endeavour’s 2,500 square kilometre geographic region, or the line is damaged in any way, this system can determine the exact location of the fault, Pickering says. Power can then be re-routed around the blockage and power can then be restored to most customers within minutes.
“It means that instead of sending out crews to visually inspect power lines and figure out where the fault is, which is very time-consuming and which we’ve always had to do in the past, we can now do that through this automated system,” she adds. The crews can then be sent to the exact fault location to repair the damage.
Endeavour Energy’s shareholders include an Australian-led consortium of private investors (50.4 per cent) and the NSW Government (49.6 per cent). The Australian Energy Regulator determines how much revenue Endeavour can make and the company’s shareholder returns.
On the sustainability front, Endeavour deployed the largest community battery program in NSW in 2024, with 76 batteries providing customers in 33 suburbs, with access to cheaper and greener energy, Pickering says, adding there are more batteries to come. These batteries store excess solar energy – even customers without a solar power system can rent a share of a battery to reduce their energy bills.
One in four homes in the Endeavour network now has solar power, and Pickering says the proportion is expected to increase to one in two in the near future. Endeavour also uses AI to help customers sell their solar power to the grid and reduce their power bills.
“We’re really seeing a shift as more people put solar onto their roofs,” Pickering adds. “They can see the benefits in terms of clean energy and decarbonisation goals but also savings on energy bills.”