Tech watch: AI drives down residential energy bills in South Africa

From the newsletter

This month's tech watch spotlights Artificial Intelligence in African energy. South African solar-as-a-service provider, Wetility, has launched "AI Mode," a new software solution that enhances electricity savings and ensures uninterrupted power supply for consumers. This comes as South Africa grapples with rising electricity tariffs and persistent load shedding.

• The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) energy market is forecast to reach a value of $422.2 million by 2030. This represents a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38% from 2025.

• Current innovations include resource forecasting, system optimisation, predictive maintenance, and smart grid management, which improve reliability and reduce costs on the continent. Countries pioneering AI in energy include Uganda’s SolarNow, DR Congo’s Nuru and Kenya’s SunCulture.

More details

• Wetility's AI Mode was launched on May 1st after over 15 months of research, development, and beta testing with 500 customers. Accessible via the Wetility App, the software integrates minute-by-minute real-time data, physics-based predictive solar modelling, and personalised customer consumption insights. 

• It processes millions of data points, including real-time power usage, historical preferences, current and upcoming weather patterns, and the size of the solar system, to make autonomous, data-driven decisions faster and more effectively than manual human intervention.

• According to Ikenna Oguguo, Wetility’s Chief Product Officer, the key challenge in developing AI Mode was engineering a system that could deliver substantial savings without compromising protection against load shedding. Beta tests in March confirmed the success of this approach, with hundreds of users running on AI Mode during active load shedding without any loss of power. 

• Traditional solar systems often require manual adjustments to balance energy usage, storage, and grid reliance. AI Mode eliminates this need by dynamically deciding when to draw power from solar and when to charge or discharge the battery, thereby reducing dependence on the grid. Customers who transitioned to AI Mode reported a rise in their daily solar usage, in some cases exceeding 90%, leading to considerable savings on their monthly electricity bills.

• Wetility's AI Mode aims to resolve the long-standing compromise between maximising electricity savings and maintaining backup power security. By leveraging advanced predictive algorithms and real-time data, the software dynamically manages solar and battery usage, promising to increase electricity savings for customers by an average of 65%.

• The software is a direct response to South Africa's complex energy challenges, including the ongoing threat of short-notice power disruptions. Its real-time adaptability provides a crucial layer of reliability by anticipating unexpected power outages and ensuring batteries are sufficiently charged or discharged based on numerous possible scenarios, rather than relying solely on load shedding schedules or Eskom announcements.

• AI in general presents an unprecedented scale for Africa's electrification, especially in rural electrification. Case studies from Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa show AI is being used to optimise mini-grid energy generation and storage in Nigeria, ensuring consistent off-grid power, improving wind forecasting and grid management in Kenya, boosting efficiency at the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project and enhancing battery storage reliability in South Africa by predicting optimal charging/discharging cycles.

• However, penetration in the continent remains nascent. The biggest contributors to this are high upfront costs, technical expertise gaps, and regulatory barriers that hinder broader AI and renewable energy adoption. Addressing these will require targeted investment, capacity building, and supportive policy frameworks. 

Our take

• Africa’s electrification will require leveraging technological advancements of the time; in this age, AI will be crucial in the process. The technology has the potential to optimise renewables for rapid access, boosting efficiency, stabilising grids, and fostering local innovation.

• This move from solely hardware-focused solutions to intelligent software demonstrates a maturing African renewable energy market. AI Mode could significantly accelerate the adoption of solar energy across the country.

• The ability to dramatically increase savings without additional hardware costs could be the key to unlocking mass market penetration. This intelligent approach, which focuses on optimising existing systems, might be more accessible and impactful for a wider range of South African consumers.