How DTE Energy Is Using AI for High-Bill Calls and Building Customer Trust

When a colder-than-average Midwest winter drove heating use higher across DTE’s service territory, many customers noticed the change in their bills right away. What they didn’t immediately see was the connection between prolonged cold weather and increased energy use. Instead, the spike raised questions: Was there a billing error? A rate increase? Or a meter malfunction?

That reaction is not unique to DTE or to a single season. Utilities across the country are contending with weather that is increasingly unpredictable and more volatile year-round. While the industry has long focused on strengthening infrastructure to withstand extreme conditions, the customer experience impacts of that volatility are just as real. Higher and less predictable bills can lead to confusion, frustration, increased calls to and in some cases, regulatory complaints.

Understanding the Bill Shock Moment

During peak heating and cooling seasons, billing and usage questions typically account for 35 to 50 percent of inbound call volume at large utilities. Following extreme weather events, some customers may see their energy use – and their bills – rise up to 300 percent or more. When that happens without clear context, it can be difficult for customers to understand what changed and why.

Customers receiving an unexpectedly high bill lack the information to connect weather conditions to energy consumption to cost. For contact center agents, explaining that bill can be complex – weather, usage patterns, home characteristics and rate structures all play a role and that information hasn’t always been easy to access in one place. Without a shared, clear explanation, conversations can take longer, escalate more quickly and leave customers uncertain.

Using Digital Tools to Improve Clarity and Confidence

Utilities have invested heavily in operational resilience against weather. But the customer experience side of weather volatility has received comparatively little strategic investment. As weather-driven volatility increased, the opportunity became clear: give customers more insight before they call and give agents the same information customers see when they do. The objective is not to eliminate customer contact – it is to ensure customers are better informed before they call, and that when they do, the agent and the customer share the same clear picture of what drove the bill. That shared context is the foundation of faster resolution, lower cost-to-serve and stronger trust.

DTE’s Approach

That thinking led to the deployment of BillWise AI in partnership with Powerley, a Convey company.

For consumers, BillWise AI delivers personalized, AI-driven recommendations alongside high-bill alerts and forecasts that help set expectations before the bill arrives. Customers can see how weather, usage and household behavior contributed to their bill, making the relationship between energy use and cost more tangible for the first time. An additional key feature is bill forecasting, which provides visibility into projected bills before the statement is issued, allowing customers to anticipate higher bills during extreme weather and take action earlier.

For agents, the platform consolidates customer data into a unified dashboard with clear breakdowns of weather, usage and cost drivers. Instead of rebuilding the story from multiple systems, agents can focus on explaining what happened and helping customers move forward. Starting from a shared view quickly builds credibility and supports faster resolution.

Part of a Broader Customer Strategy

Deploying this platform reflects a broader, multi-year approach at DTE focused on three pillars: education, service delivery and informed choices. Education helps customers understand how energy use affects their bills and what to expect as conditions change. Service delivery ensures contact center teams have the tools they need to handle complex billing questions efficiently and with confidence. Informed choices start with giving customers actionable insights that help them manage energy use over time.

DTE’s tools have evolved steadily over the past several years – from basic usage information to interactive experiences, to today’s AI-driven insights. Each stage built on operational learning and customer feedback, shaping a solution grounded in real-world needs.

Early Results

In a pilot involving approximately 500,000 DTE residential customers, BillWise AI delivered strong results. More than 96 percent of participating customers who used the self-service tools were able to resolve their billing questions without calling. Customers who contacted the call center experience shorter call handling times and Net Promoter Score showed a double-digit point improvement. The combined effect resulted in fewer and shorter calls, along with higher first-contact resolution that translated into meaningful cost-to-serve reductions.

Agents also reported positive experiences. The majority of agents found the tool easy to use and said it helped them feel more confident during billing conversations, particularly during high-bill seasons. That confidence matters – when frontline teams trust the information their sharing, customers are more likely to trust it as well – and regulators see fewer formal complaints.

Looking Ahead

Weather volatility is no longer an occasional challenge – it’s an ongoing reality. Utilities that treat high bill calls as an unavoidable cost of doing business will continue absorbing that cost in contact handling time, agent turnover, and in regulatory risk as weather patterns intensify. DTE’s experience shows that while higher usage during extreme weather can’t always be avoided, confusion and frustration around high bills can be reduced.

The lesson is less about any single technology and more about transparency. Customers and agents need to see the same information. When that shared visibility exists, billing conversations get shorter, clearer and more constructive.