How much does AI cost for energy and utility companies?
The typical AI build for energy and utility companies costs $1,500, and half of 171 priced posts fall between $150 and $5,600. That ranks 32nd of 36 industries on median cost.
What stands out
Energy buyers range from solar installers wanting leads to utilities wanting forecasting. The first is a small build; the second carries safety and regulatory review.
- Budgets run below the market: a median of $1,500 against $2,500 overall.
- Nigeria buys more here than usual: 4.2% of these posts against 1.6% of the market.
- Demand leans towards support chatbots: 5.9% of posts here against 3.3% across industries.
- “Chatbot” appears in 5.9% of posts, 1.9 times the usual share.
How Energy and utilities ranks
How energy and utilities ranks
Each tick is a ranked industry, lowest on the left. Pink is this one.
- Posts238#25 of 36
- Median cost$1,500#32 of 36
- Hourly rate$30/hr#5 of 36
- Applicants13#13 of 36
- Expert requests34%#28 of 36
- Compliance4.6%#21 of 36
- Production14.6%#26 of 36
- Seasoned buyers43%#14 of 36
What a build costs
Half of priced posts fall between $150 and $5,600, and one in ten reaches $12,000.
Against the closest sectors
Median build for Energy and utilities and the sectors nearest in price.
- Agriculture$2,650
- Automotive$2,500
- Engineering and architecture$2,000
- Home services$2,000
- Energy and utilities$1,500
- Pets and veterinary$1,500
- Dental$1,380
How buyers structure the work
Fixed-price and hourly posts, by count.
$200median fixed budget
$4,800median hourly estimate
Posted rates: $22.50/hr to $38.88/hr, median $30/hr.
What is being built
Compared with other sectors, this shows what is distinctive here, not only what is common.
Most requested builds
Share of posts here against all sectors.
- Back-office automation14.6%
- AI SaaS and MVPs12.1%
- CRM automation7.5%
- Custom agents7.5%
- n8n workflows7.1%
- Make and Zapier6.3%
- Support chatbots5.9%
- API integrations4.6%
See the numbers
| Build | Posts | Share here | Across industries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back-office automation | 35 | 14.6% | 14.2% |
| AI SaaS and MVPs | 29 | 12.1% | 21.4% |
| CRM automation | 18 | 7.5% | 4.6% |
| Custom agents | 18 | 7.5% | 7.3% |
| n8n workflows | 17 | 7.1% | 6.2% |
| Make and Zapier | 15 | 6.3% | 3.9% |
| Support chatbots | 14 | 5.9% | 3.3% |
| API integrations | 11 | 4.6% | 5.4% |
| RAG and document search | 9 | 3.8% | 2.3% |
| Voice agents | 6 | 2.5% | 2.8% |
| Text to SQL | 6 | 2.5% | 1.3% |
| AI mobile apps | 5 | 2.1% | 2.5% |
Most distinctive here
How many times the usual share.
Tools and scope
What buyers name shows the systems a build has to work with and how close it is to production.
Tools and systems named
Share of posts. Names under five posts are hidden.
- “Agent”13.9%
- n8n7.1%
- GoHighLevel6.3%
- “Chatbot”5.9%
- GoHighLevel5.0%
- Claude4.6%
- AWS4.6%
- OpenAI and ChatGPT3.8%
- HubSpot3.8%
How serious the scope is
Share of descriptions asking for each.
- Production14.6%
- Evaluation or guardrails2.9%
- Compliance4.6%
- Security2.5%
Where the buyers are
Buyers around the world
Countries with five or more posts. Click a country to open it.
Top countries
Share of this sector's posts.
- United States54.4%
- United Kingdom5.0%
- India4.6%
- Germany4.6%
- Nigeria4.2%
- Australia3.8%
- United Arab Emirates2.9%
- Canada2.1%
If you are buying
Plan around the range
Half of priced posts fall between $150 and $5,600, and one in ten reaches $12,000. Scope decides where you land.
Start where peers start
After general products and back-office work, CRM automation is the most common request here. A narrow first build lets you prove value before you widen scope.
Plan time for shortlisting
A median of 13 applicants means screening takes real time. Ask for one similar past project up front.
Compare with similar sectors
Also in property and industry
Price your own build
See the median, range and scope for your use case. If you would rather talk it through, VIZIO AI builds and runs these systems.
Questions
How much does an AI build cost for energy and utility companies?
The median across 171 priced posts is $1,500. Half fall between $150 and $5,600, and one in ten reaches $12,000 or more. That ranks 32nd of 36 industries on median cost.
What are energy and utility companies building with AI?
The most common requests are back-office automation, AI SaaS and MVPs, CRM automation.
What do AI developers charge in energy and utilities?
Posted rates centre on $30 an hour, with most between $22.50 and $38.88. These are open-market rates; agencies usually charge more.
Where are the buyers in energy and utilities?
The United States is the largest market, with 54% of posts.
How do you decide a post's industry?
From the post title where it names a sector, otherwise from the buyer's stated industry. About 45% of posts can be placed, so this describes those posts, not every buyer in the sector.
How to read this
A post's industry comes from its title where that names a sector, otherwise from the buyer's stated industry. About 45% of posts can be placed. Figures come from public job posts from December 2025 to November 2026 and show what posts offered, not what was paid. Hourly posts are estimated from rate, length and workload. Industries need 30 priced posts to be ranked, and are left out of rankings when one account makes up over a quarter of posts. Counts under 5 are hidden. Momentum compares January to March with May to July, before collection widened, and is left out where one account is over 12% of posts. Read the method
Cite this page. The AI Build Index. "How much does AI cost for energy and utility companies?" Published by VIZIO AI. Updated 2026-11-04. https://aibuildindex.com/industries/energy
Get the data as JSON or the page as Markdown. See all industries.
| Measure | Value | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| AI build posts | 238 | 25 of 36 |
| Median build cost | $1,500 | 32 of 36 |
| Median hourly rate | $30/hr | 5 of 36 |
| Applicants per post | 13 | 13 of 36 |
| Expert-level requests | 34% | 28 of 36 |
| Compliance named | 4.6% | 21 of 36 |
| Production named | 14.6% | 26 of 36 |
| Buyers with $10k+ past spend | 43% | 14 of 36 |