Kraken Technologies is a Business Reporter customer
Today, utilities are facing a transformation that will define their industry. Traditionally, large centralized providers generated power and distributed it to consumers. Now, the focus has shifted to a decentralized system powered by renewable sources, involving many producers and consumers.
Utilities must manage the demand and output of millions of devices, such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels, to maintain grid stability. This transition is not limited to energy, but also extends to water management. For example, the UK could face severe water shortages within the next 30 years, requiring significant reductions in water consumption and increased efficiency.
Addressing these issues requires a comprehensive approach that combines physical infrastructure upgrades with sophisticated software capabilities. Legacy software systems, often decades old, are ill-equipped to meet these demands. “Many utilities find this software capabilities upgrade challenging because they are probably some of the oldest utilities on the planet having implemented technology 30 years ago,” says Deepak Ravindran, CEO of Kraken Utilities. Deepak sees three key challenges for legacy technologies: the need to process and analyze large amounts of data, enable rapid and efficient innovation, and manage cyber risk.
Enter Kraken, the AI-enabled operating system for utilities.
Kraken began as Octopus Energy’s internal technology platform before growing into a global technology company. At the core of Kraken’s offerings are three key applications: Kraken Customer, Kraken Asset, and Kraken Field.
Kraken Customer is an operating system for all aspects of customer service technology. The system is designed to enable utilities to achieve market-leading satisfaction and efficiency. Kraken’s power comes from using a single system for all customer needs. “Typically, you’ll see a utility provider using a legacy system where an agent has to go through 15-20 screens of different systems to serve the customer, resulting in a slow and poor customer experience,” says Deepak. “Our system allows agents to have all information about the customer, their bills, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and solar panels all in one place, allowing for fast and efficient service.”
With all this information available in one place, agents can provide fast and efficient service, improving customer experience and streamlining operations. The platform currently serves 54 million accounts across 17 markets. This includes market-leading shares in the UK, Australia and, coming soon, Japan and other countries. Additionally, Kraken recently expanded into the water and telecommunications industries. In two years, the platform has reached almost five million accounts in the water sector across Severn Trent, Portsmouth Water and Leep Utilities.
In the broadband space, the company serves UK-based ISP disruptor Cuckoo. Kraken Asset (aka KrakenFlex) offers market-leading asset management and data-driven, AI-powered optimization and control for energy assets of any size, scale or type. It also provides real-time monitoring and data-driven analytics and management of transmission and distribution networks.
Kraken currently oversees over 230,000 distributed energy resources (DERs) and 42.35 GW of contracted power. The KrakenFlex platform enables innovative demand response programs, where customers are rewarded for reducing energy consumption during peak hours.
For example, Octopus signed up 1.4 million customers for a program that sends them a message three hours before an expected peak in energy demand, urging them to reduce consumption and earn three times the average energy price for the electricity they didn’t use. This program prevented the UK power grid from burning $200 million worth of coal and diesel, paying customers $10 million in return.
Kraken Field supports maintenance and asset management. Thousands of Octopus Energy Services engineers are currently using the platform to install heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, and will soon be licensed to other parties.
Founded by British entrepreneurs Greg Jackson and James Eddison, Kraken is revolutionising the UK utilities landscape with a vision to expand globally. This pioneering company is driven by one purpose: to foster a greener utilities sector, create opportunities and set a bold vision for the future.
Kraken’s global expansion is not just about growth, it’s about creating a positive impact on a global scale. By combining a strong ethical foundation with cutting-edge technology, Kraken will become a global leader and transform the way we think about and interact with public services.
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