AI Front Office for Utilities. An AI receptionist for utilities on every line
Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for utilities that answers water, electric, gas and waste customers by phone, website chat, e-mail and web form, day and night. It answers billing, start, stop and move questions from your approved knowledge, routes each caller by reason and language, and puts every emergency through to your people at once.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“Gas smells and downed lines go straight to the on-call supervisor; billing calls to billing.”
Lisa“Emergencies: your safety line, then a transfer at once to the on-call supervisor's mobile. Billing: AI first, then the billing desk. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All industries ›
Who reaches you
Who the AI answers for Utilities
- Households starting, stopping or moving water, power or gas service on a set date
- Customers puzzled by a higher winter heating or summer cooling bill
- Residents reporting a streetlight out, low water pressure or a missed trash pickup
- Builders and electricians asking for a new service, a meter set or a temporary connection
- Landlords and property managers with dozens of service addresses
- Co-op members and town residents calling the utility office after hours
The front desk
What an AI receptionist for utilities answers
One front office answers every customer call, chat, e-mail and form for your water, power, gas or waste service from the same approved knowledge, so the customer experience on the phone matches the chat and no channel tells a different story.
Billing and account inquiries
Why a winter bill rose, when it is due and which ways to pay you accept are explained from your billing pages. Disputes, extensions and payment plans go to your billing team.
Start, stop and move requests
A customer moving across town gives both addresses and both dates once. The request reaches your service desk complete, as one ticket with its confirmation e-mail to the customer.
Outage and service calls
Callers hear the outage notice your team posted and nothing beyond it. Low pressure, a flickering streetlight or a missed pickup becomes a ticket with the address in the caller's words.
Emergencies, straight to people
A gas smell, a downed line or a main break is never handled by the AI. It says your safety line and transfers the caller to the people you set for emergencies.
Field visits booked
Meter sets, meter exchanges and service inspections go into free windows of each crew's agenda, with travel time kept between addresses and the confirmation sent while the customer is still there.
Every language on the territory
A caller who speaks Spanish or Vietnamese is answered in that language on every channel, from the pages your office wrote once, so no household waits for a bilingual rep.
A day at the utility
24/7 customer service for utilities, hour by hour
Six use cases from one day at a utility office, from the storm morning to a main break at 2 AM; each use case is a call your customer care team already knows.
6 AM, after the ice storm
Hundreds of homes lost power overnight and the phones light up. Every caller is answered on the first ring with the notice your team posted, and nobody waits through hold music.
8 AM, the first-of-month bills
New bills land and the same question comes again and again: why is it higher? The AI explains seasonal use from your billing pages and passes anyone who disputes a charge to billing.
Noon, a builder's meter set
A contractor finishing a house asks for a meter set next week. The AI books the first free window of your metering crew in that area and e-mails the confirmation.
4 PM, a skipped trash cart
A resident's cart was missed on collection day. The request is filed with the address and the route day, and your route supervisor reads it before the trucks roll again.
9 PM, a lease ends Saturday
A tenant wants water stopped at the old flat and started at the new one. Both dates and both addresses reach your service desk in one ticket, ready for the morning shift.
2 AM, water in the street
A resident sees water bubbling up through the pavement. The AI says your safety line and transfers the call to the on-call crew leader, who hears who is calling and why first.
Real screens
Inside the AI receptionist for utilities
Real Zanus AI screens with demo data, framed for the customer care office of a water, power or gas utility.
Compared
An AI answering service for utilities, a person or voicemail?
Most utilities cover nights, storms and billing days with extra staff, an outside answering service or a voicemail box. Here is what each one does on the calls where customer satisfaction is won or lost.
| What a utility needs | A rep at the counter | An outside answering service | Voicemail | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A storm-morning surge | One caller at a time, the rest on hold | Messages stacked for the morning | A mailbox full by 7 AM | Every caller answered: on the first ring, with the notice you posted |
| A gas smell at midnight | Nobody at the counter | Patched through if the script says so | A recording nobody hears tonight | Transferred at once: to the people you set for emergencies, after your safety line |
| A higher winter bill, asked at 8 PM | Waits until the office opens | A callback slip | One more message to return | Seasonal use explained: from your billing pages, a dispute sent to billing |
| A move to a new address | Typed in when a rep is free | Taken down, then retyped by staff | A callback tomorrow | Both dates and addresses filed: as one ticket for your service desk |
| What your supervisors read | Notes typed between calls | A few lines per caller | Recordings to replay | Every call in writing: with its summary and outcome on the customer's record |
Guardrails
What goes to a person, and what the AI never says
Emergencies and safety
A gas smell, a downed line, a sparking transformer or a main break is transferred at once to your emergency contacts. The AI never tells the caller it is handling the danger itself.
Bills and payment decisions
The AI never says what a bill will come to and never agrees an extension, a payment plan or a deposit. Your billing team decides, with the call already written up.
Restoration times
Only the outage wording your team published is read out. The AI never guesses a cause, a crew's arrival or a restoration time of its own, however hard a caller presses.
Programs and assistance
Rebate, assistance and rate program rules are explained as your pages state them. Whether a household qualifies is decided by your staff, and the AI says so plainly.
Answers only from your knowledge
When your approved pages do not hold the answer, the AI says it needs to check and offers a person or a callback instead of guessing at a fee or a rule.
Recording on your terms
Call recording is off as shipped. Switch it on and the AI can tell callers the call may be recorded, and you choose how long recordings are kept.
Set-up
Set up your AI receptionist for utilities in 2 minutes
Forward a line
Forward your customer service number to the Front Office. Calls are answered from that moment, with no porting and no new phone hardware to install.
Let Lisa read your site
Lisa reads your outage page, billing pages, start-stop steps and program pages, then asks which services you run: water, sewer, electric, gas or collection.
Name departments and emergency contacts
Tell Lisa who takes billing, new service, field requests and emergencies, and when each person can be reached. She shows each change before and after.
Hear it answer
Call your own line and listen to the AI pick up. Run it free for 7 days with no credit card, then read what every caller asked.
Questions & answers
Questions utilities ask about an AI receptionist
What is an AI receptionist for utilities?
It is a front desk that never closes for a water, electric, gas or waste utility. Working as an AI agent on every channel, Zanus AI picks up customer calls, chats, e-mails and forms, understands requests made in natural language, answers from the knowledge you approved, routes each caller by reason and language, books field visits and writes every conversation onto the customer's record.
Can AI answer utility customer service calls during an outage?
Yes. Every caller is picked up on the first ring, so a storm spike no longer piles up in a hold queue. The AI reads out only the outage notice your team published, never a cause or a restoration time of its own, and a caller describing something new is written up for your field team. Your outage management system stays the record of outages; the AI answers from the notice you approved.
What happens when a caller reports a gas smell, a downed line or a water main break?
The AI does not handle it. It says the safety line you wrote and transfers the caller at once to the people you set for emergencies, at the desk, in the phone app or on their mobile. If nobody picks up, the caller hears the line you prepared for that hour, such as your emergency number.
Will the AI say what a bill will be or agree a payment arrangement?
No. It explains how your bills, due dates and ways to pay work, from the pages you approved. What a bill will come to, an extension, a payment plan or a shut-off question goes to your billing team with the conversation attached, so the customer explains it only once.
Does it connect to our billing or customer information system?
No. The AI answers from your website, your documents and the rules you write, and account and billing records stay in your own systems. The customer data the Front Office keeps is the conversation record: who called, chatted or wrote, what they asked and what happened next. An account change reaches your team as a message or a ticket, with the call transcript beside it.
Can we keep the customer service number people already know?
Yes. Keep the phone number printed on your bills: forward it to the Front Office and the AI answers from that moment, with no porting and no new phone system. Moving the number in later is possible too: Zanus AI arranges the port with your carrier whenever your utility is ready for it.
How is this different from an outside answering service?
An outside service takes a message and passes it on. As a virtual receptionist for utility companies, the AI answers the question itself from your approved knowledge, books the meter visit, opens the service request and writes the whole call down, on your own number and in the caller's language, while your reps keep the calls that need them and a supervisor can listen to any live call in real time.
How much does an AI receptionist for a utility cost?
It is priced per company, never per seat, so every rep and supervisor in your customer care office shares one subscription. You will find the plans on the pricing page, and a 7-day free trial on your own utility lines needs no credit card.
Which languages can our customers use?
Forty. Spanish, Vietnamese or Polish speakers hear the answer in their own language at any hour, on the phone, in the chat and by e-mail, from the same approved pages your office wrote once in its working language.
Can municipal utilities and electric cooperatives use it?
Yes. A town water and sewer department, a public power utility or a rural co-op sets up AI customer service for municipal utilities the same way: its departments, office hours, emergency contacts and approved pages. Members and residents reach the same desk on every channel, and your people decide what only they answer.
Will it replace our customer service reps?
No. It takes the routine questions, the overnight hours and the overflow when every rep is busy, so a small office runs like a contact center open around the clock. That is where the operational efficiency comes from: your reps get the calls that need judgment, such as disputes, payment arrangements, shut-off questions and field emergencies, each already written up.
How long does set-up take?
2 minutes once a line is forwarded. Lisa reads your website, asks which services you run, your office hours, your languages and who takes emergencies, then shows each change before and after; nothing applies without your yes.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.
Awards & trade shows ›
Give Lisa your website.
She sets up your business in 2 minutes.
Other software makes you learn it. Zanus AI learns your business.
Try it free on your own business — no credit card, per company, never per seat.
Ready to buy? See plans & pricing ›
Or call +1 (954) 736-3939 — the AI answers.