California, home to the largest population in the U.S. and the highest rate of electric vehicle adoption, faces unique challenges in maintaining a reliable power grid. At Itron Inspire, our recent customer-focused event, Todd Inlander, senior vice president and chief information officer of Southern California Edison (SCE), delivered an insightful keynote that addressed these challenges head-on, highlighting the exciting opportunities ahead and previewing SCE’s priorities in ensuring a future-ready grid. 

Following his keynote, Todd further elaborated on these topics during a LinkedIn Live with Paul Gerke, content director at Clarion Events. Together, they discussed how SCE is currently enhancing grid operations with cutting-edge technology and shared plans for maximizing its potential in the future. If you missed it live, watch the recording here and check out the conversation highlights below.  

Paul: You’ve highlighted various challenges and opportunities utilities are facing right now. From your perspective at SCE, what are some of the key challenges and opportunities that stand out? 

Todd: We’re not alone, but grid technology isn’t as progressive or advanced as enterprise technology. We need to make sure the technologies we’re deploying are ready for prime time. We all have data challenges—we preside over 50,000 square miles, so accurate data is critical. Eventually, when we deploy models with generative artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML), it needs to be equipped with the right data to do the things we need it to do.  

Paul: What technologies is SCE focusing on right now? 

Todd: There are various levels of technology. As it relates to leveraging AI and some of those capabilities, our early wins include predictive analytics, helping our call center agents and creating a robust knowledge base that will lead to a more autonomous capability with the conversational chat box. That’s in the future but we’re ultimately trying to protect our information and monitor what happens related to the use of AI. 

Paul: The industry is changing quickly. How do you anticipate the energy management space changing over the next few years? 

Todd: The demand curve is crazy. The demand driven by electric vehicles, buildings, data centers, etc. requires new ways of thinking, planning and orchestrating the grid. We’re rolling out a new communications infrastructure so we can get real-time information, which will be very useful in managing the increasing demand. For the guardrails on AI—we’re going to have to test and learn and will likely need tools that don’t exist yet to make sure we’re leveraging it appropriately.  

Paul: What's SCE's overall perspective on AI? How do you see it empowering your customers and enhancing your operations? 

Todd: We’re using Microsoft Copilot, GPT, predictive analytics and forecasting electric vehicle penetration. We’ve also put some AI capabilities in grid forecasting and demand as well as in our call center to help our energy advisors.  

The most exciting capabilities are coming in the next couple years, like a fully autonomous grid managed by AI. With millions of sensors and vast amounts of data we’ll collect—petabytes and zettabytes—we’ll gain the ability to detect outages or even anticipate and prevent them proactively.  We’ll see leading indicators and adjust conditions to avoid human dispatch whenever possible, leveraging the automation already in place.  

Paul: What about Itron Inspire excites you? 

Todd: It’s about coming together as a community. At SCE, we don’t pretend to know everything or have it all figured out. This community is in a similar set of circumstances— gas, water, electricity—we’re all dealing with legacy infrastructure that is changing rapidly based on demand. I’m excited to learn what others in the industry are doing.   

Paul: If you had a message to leave with our viewers about the AI/ML space, what would it be? 

Todd: Be bold—think boldly, experiment and try things out. Utilities often lean more conservative than other industries, but we need to be bolder in our experimentation and fail fast. Start with small experiments in your call center or back office, leverage tools like Copilot and explore new ideas.  

I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and right now is an especially exciting moment. AI is putting new life into utilities and the way we operate. It’s an awesome time to be a technologist in the utility sector. 

Thank you for tuning into our Itron Inspire 2024 LinkedIn live interviews! Check out the recap of our first interview with Marina Donovan, Itron’s vice president of global marketing, ESG and public affairs, here, and make sure you’re following us on social media for the latest news and updates from Itron.