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As AI reshapes how customers research and choose clean energy solutions, there is a call to action for providers: who will own the customer relationship?
5-MINUTE READ
September 28, 2026
Energy choices for the home are not simple purchase decisions. From solar panels and home batteries to EV charging and heat pumps, customers face unfamiliar technologies, changing incentives and more choices. Traditionally, utilities have helped customers make sense of it all. But now, AI is beginning to change that.
Accenture’s Consumer Pulse research1 looked specifically at 1,524 residential consumers who recently purchased clean energy solutions, offering an early view of where the energy relationship may be heading.
69%
have high or complete trust in AI recommendations.
~90%
expect AI to influence at least half of their future purchases.
53%
are ready to let AI choose what they purchase on their behalf.
What we found was not a future prediction. It was a signal from customers already using AI across the purchase journey: turning to it first for guidance, relying on it to narrow the options they consider, and increasingly willing to let it act on their behalf.
And that behavior cuts across age and income. Even among Boomers, clean energy customers are nearly twice as likely to be active AI users as their peers in the broader population.
This changes the competitive field. If AI is comparing rates, rebates, programs and solutions on your customer's behalf, will it recommend you?
The answer depends on whether you are present where those decisions begin, whether AI can understand and clearly communicate your value, and whether your customer can easily act on its recommendation. Here are three ways you can prepare.
As AI becomes a bigger part of how customers research and choose solutions, you need to decide what role you want to play. Already, 30% of clean energy shoppers rank AI as their top source for purchase recommendations, ahead of friends and family, traditional search engines and physical stores.
You have choices. You can build your own AI channels or agents, or work with the AI platforms and partners your customers are already using to make sure your information and expertise are part of the experience. In many cases, you may choose a combination of both.
What matters is making that choice deliberately. As AI moves earlier in the journey, it can shape what customers need, which options they consider and where they go next. Without a clear strategy, AI could increasingly shape your customers’ decisions, leaving you with less influence over the relationship.
of clean energy shoppers rank AI as their top source for purchase recommendations
Once you decide how you want to participate, you need to make sure AI can accurately find, understand and compare what you offer.
That matters because people are increasingly relying on AI to weigh multiple factors when narrowing their choices. Among clean energy customers, budget and value remain important, but so do factors like quality, reliability and fit. That means AI needs enough information to understand not only what you offer, but how your offerings compare across the factors customers care about.
For utilities, that raises the stakes. AI can only recommend what it can retrieve, interpret and compare. Complex pricing, difficult-to-compare offers or unclear program information could put you at a disadvantage. Clear information about value, reliability, eligibility, savings and incentives can make it easier for AI to understand not only what you offer, but why it may be the right choice for a customer.
The goal is not simply to appear in an AI response. You want AI to understand your value well enough to accurately represent you.
Being recommended is only part of the journey. Customers are increasingly open to AI doing more on their behalf. In fact, 53% of clean energy customers are ready to let AI choose what they purchase on their behalf, and 26% are open to fully autonomous purchasing, nearly three times the 9% of the broader population.
But that willingness has limits. Payment remains an important point of hesitation, showing that customers still want control when the stakes are higher.
For you, that means designing journeys where AI can help customers move from recommendation to action without taking away their control. If AI helps someone identify the right program or solution, can it also help them enroll, request a quote or schedule a service without forcing them to start over?
The goal is to let AI handle more of the work while giving customers clear opportunities to review and approve important decisions.
of clean energy shoppers are open to letting AI make purchases autonomously
AI is changing where energy decisions begin, how customers compare their options and how much of the journey they are willing to delegate. Meeting customers where they are increasingly means being ready to engage with the AI agents acting on their behalf.
For energy providers, the opportunity goes beyond adopting AI. It is to define your role in the customer relationship as AI takes on a bigger role in supporting your customers.
This means deciding how you want to engage, making your value easy for AI to understand and compare, and enabling customers and their agents to move from recommendation to action while keeping customers in control.
As more customers turn to AI to make energy decisions, the question becomes increasingly simple for energy providers: when AI is acting on your customers' behalf, how will you show up?
Sources:
1Accenture, Talk to my agent: The new rules of brand value, June 2026.