The UK should move towards an AI-enabled electricity system, with new measures to make the technology safer and ensure it delivers benefits for consumers, an independent review has recommended.
This preceded a speech by the Minister for Local Energy and Jobs, who confirmed that an ‘AI in Energy Strategy’ plan is to be released next year.
Led by Lucy Yu, the UK Government’s AI Champion for Clean Energy, the review sets out recommendations for using artificial intelligence to make the electricity system more efficient, flexible and reliable.
It calls for the grid to move towards AI-enabled, risk-based operation and planning, while asking for clear governance for AI systems to speed up the deployment of AI solutions that have already been proven to work.
She claims that this could help reduce costs across the economy, give households and businesses greater flexibility and create opportunities for the UK to develop and scale AI and energy technologies.
However, it warns that greater use of AI will bring new risks, particularly around cybersecurity, as AI could alter the electricity network’s potential attack surfaces and the ways threats could spread, meaning security considerations will need to be built into its deployment.
The views in this report were also voiced last week by the Minister for Local Energy and Jobs, Martin McCluskey who said: “The transition that we are on the road to in the UK at the moment, to clean power is one of the great national projects of our time. AI can help us get there faster.
“And it has the power to unlock a cheaper, fairer, simpler energy system for millions of people.”
Copyright © 2026 Energy Live News LtdELN