Connecticut Officials Seek Review of AI Use by Utilities

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman have asked the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to review how the state’s utilities use artificial intelligence and whether protections adequately address cybersecurity, customer privacy, reliability and algorithmic errors. They want utilities to disclose which AI systems they use, their purposes, human oversight and governing policies, and seek scrutiny of areas including storm response, customer services, forecasting, grid and water operations, vendors and metering. The officials say the scope of AI use by providers such as Eversource and Avangrid is unclear, and point to examples where AI weather forecasts have underperformed conventional models. Coleman acknowledged AI’s potential to improve operations and reduce costs, while stressing that benefits must be balanced against risks to safety and consumers. The petition requests a review; it does not mean regulators have opened an investigation.