In a conversation with Richard Lohwasser, founder and CEO of enneo.ai, we learn how the idea for this innovative start-up emerged from long-term observations in the energy sector. In the interview, he also shares insights into the challenges his team faced on the path to starting the company and how enneo.ai manages to resolve customer inquiries efficiently yet empathetically through artificial intelligence.

When and how did the idea for enneo.ai come about, and were there any hurdles in founding the company?

Richard Lohwasser: The idea for enneo.ai emerged at the end of 2022 with the introduction of ChatGPT. I have been working in the energy sector for over 15 years—first as a consultant at McKinsey, then at Vattenfall, and later as a managing director in the service department of ExtraEnergie. There, I noticed that customer service employees were constantly dealing with the same inquiries, but there was little automation, especially for high-volume emails and letters.

Together with Kyung, I later founded our own energy provider, Lition Energie, and tried again to automate customer service processes—though without much success. The introduction of ChatGPT then showed us the immense potential to fundamentally revolutionize customer service. Shortly afterward, we founded enneo.ai.

enneo.ai uses artificial intelligence to improve the customer service of energy providers. What specific challenges in energy customer service do you solve with your solution, and how does your AI differ from others on the market?

Richard Lohwasser: Customer service in the energy sector has to handle a flood of recurring inquiries efficiently, which traditionally requires a lot of manual effort. It’s primarily about cost-to-serve and customer satisfaction. Since costs have only gone in one direction in recent years, energy providers need to become more efficient. That’s why we founded enneo, to process customer service inquiries on the channels of email, letters, system automations, and chat as an omnichannel service platform.

AI is used in two stages:

1. As a “Pilot” for standard cases: In up to one-third of all cases, no human is needed anymore: credit refunds, bank data changes, meter readings, and more are handled entirely by the AI.
2. As a “Copilot” for more complex cases: For more challenging issues, our AI creates response suggestions that the customer service agent can approve. The AI knows all relevant data, such as lab

Our AI is specialized in the energy sector and is capable of fully automated “dark processing.” The results are impressive: up to 30% of customer inquiries are handled fully automatically, and the processing times for the remaining inquiries are significantly reduced.

One of your focus areas is the automation of customer inquiries. How do you ensure that your AI is not only efficient but also empathetic and customer-oriented?

Richard Lohwasser: It’s quite simple: we use real-time, previously sent emails and letters as training material, so our AI adopts the communication style of the energy provider.

But no worries: we also include clear instructions in our prompts for appropriate wording and politeness. Our AI analyzes the sentiment of each customer inquiry as well: an angry customer receives a more empathetic response than someone with a factual concern.

The Handelsblatt reports that your start-up is already working with energy providers. What experiences and lessons have you and your customers gained from this collaboration?

Richard Lohwasser: We have gained many valuable experiences through our collaboration with energy providers. Although the technical processes are often similar, as they are generally dictated by the BDEW and BNetzA, the internal systems of the providers differ significantly. Since our software is specifically developed for the energy sector, we can address these differences effectively without having to make compromises.

How do you see the future development of AI in customer service, particularly in the energy sector, and what new features does enneo.ai plan to integrate in the future?

Richard Lohwasser: I am convinced that in a few years, it will be completely normal to handle typical customer inquiries fully automatically and instantly—even on Sundays from the couch. This convenience will quickly become a given, something we can’t imagine being without. The predominant human-to-human interaction will focus more on special issues or advice-intensive concerns, or cater to certain customer groups who insist on it and are willing to pay higher prices for it.

Enneo.ai sees itself as a pioneer of such a future—as an interface between modern technological innovations, such as language models, and the specific processes of an energy provider.

Cover: © Richard Lohwasser