How Arlo, our AI assistant, is helping our humans help you

Hello! I’m Inés and I joined Octopus more than eight years ago as an Energy Specialist (which means I answered your questions when you phoned or emailed us). I’m now Head of Operations, and my job is to make sure we’re delivering outrageously good customer service. I wanted to let you know about a few changes we’re making. 

When you email us with a straightforward question, you just want a straightforward answer so you can get on with your day. And you want it quickly.

That’s why Octopus’ tech team, in partnership with Kraken, have built Arlo, an AI assistant that is helping with our email replies.

More time for what matters

We know that bringing AI into the mix can sometimes feel like a step away from a real, personal connection. But Arlo isn’t here to replace our human Energy Specialists. It’s actually doing the exact opposite.

At the moment, we’re using Arlo to answer a few questions (the kind that would usually take our specialists a couple of minutes to reply to) and watching very closely. We always make it really clear that it’s Arlo talking (emails are signed from "Arlo: Octopus Energy’s usually intelligent virtual assistant"). You can reach a human at any time by simply replying to Arlo’s email.

Brilliant humans, brilliant care

The idea is that by letting it handle the everyday "how-tos", our brilliant human team will be freed up to do what they do best. It means our specialists will have more time to roll up their sleeves and dive into the trickiest account issues that need an expert. Or offer a supportive, human ear to customers who are going through a tough time. 

This extra freedom is so important to the lovely people who work for us. Time and again we hear stories of them going above and beyond: sending flowers to a grieving widow; staying on the line for as long as it takes to support vulnerable customers; referring those who need a little extra help to our social worker team.

Take Harry, an Energy Specialist who spoke to Ivor, a 92-year-old customer, in his first two weeks on the job and ended up being a penpal and trusted friend to him for four years, until he died. His son wrote to us: 

If we can free someone like Harry up to support customers like Ivor by taking the simpler tasks off his hands, we think that’s well worth it. 

We’ve tested Arlo over the past three months and received very positive feedback from customers, so we’re rolling it out more widely (while, of course, keeping a very close eye on it). 

Here’s what you can expect from Arlo

We know that it won’t be 100% perfect from the start, but my team are working hand-in-hand with Arlo’s developers to make sure it’s a genuinely useful tool for customers and our team. 

Read one of Arlo's emails

Here’s an example of the type of email Arlo is sending. The customer asked: “What tariffs am I on?”. Within 1 minute, Arlo had replied: