Hillsborough County Water Resources Department, Florida’s third-largest water utility, is revolutionizing its customer service operations with the implementation of POWERCONNECT.AI, marking a groundbreaking milestone in AI adoption for the utility sector. 

Serving over 240,000 accounts and 700,000 residents, the department delivers over 77 million gallons of potable water daily and recovers over 46 million gallons of wastewater while managing four water and five wastewater plants, a customer service center and an environmental laboratory. With a workforce of 800 employees, including 40 Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), the department sought innovative solutions to enhance service efficiency and improve the customer experience. 

Recognizing AI's potential to streamline operations, Hillsborough County Water partnered with POWERCONNECT.AI to deploy its AI-powered Agent Assist solution—the first-ever AI solution within its operations. 


A Strategic Leap Toward Service Excellence 

The collaboration kicked off on March 5, 2024, followed by cybersecurity reviews to ensure compliance and data security. Once approved, the department rigorously tested POWERCONNECT.AI’s AI-driven AI assistant, evaluating its impact on real-time interactions. 

POWERCONNECT.AI’s generative AI-powered platform consolidates all training materials, website content, and service documentation into an intelligent assistant. Now, CSRs can instantly search, speak to, and receive spoken responses from the system, reducing time spent searching for answers while improving accuracy and response speed. 

Real-Time AI Insights & Continuous Optimization 

Through POWERCONNECT.AI’s advanced reporting tools, Hillsborough County Water identified and updated outdated knowledge sources, ensuring customer inquiries are answered with the most current and accurate information. The AI system continuously evolves based on user feedback, benefiting not just Hillsborough County Water but also other utilities leveraging the platform. With built-in AI guardrails preventing misinformation, rigorous training protocols, and a focus on data integrity, the department is setting a new standard for AI adoption in the utility sector. 

Georges Gonzalez, Director of Enterprise Solutions at Hillsborough County Water, praised the transformation: 

"POWERCONNECT.AI has revolutionized our customer service operations. The AI agent assistance has significantly improved the agent and customer experience—this is a game-changer for utilities. The POWERCONNECT.AI team has been a great business partner from day one, presenting a clear plan that meets our needs while elevating customer service. Their responsiveness, engagement, expertise, and commitment was excellent and exceeded expectations. We are excited for what’s ahead." 

AI-Powered Onboarding & Efficiency Gains 

Beyond enhancing the customer experience, AI is transforming new agent onboarding, reducing training time and accelerating productivity. Research indicates that AI-driven training tools can improve agent proficiency by up to 65%, enabling utilities to scale their teams more efficiently while maintaining service excellence. The findings after the POWERCONNECT.AI implementation align with the research. 

Steve Dawson, Founder & President at POWERCONNECT.AI LLC, shared his thoughts on the partnership: "Partnering with Hillsborough County Water has been an incredible opportunity. Their adoption of our AI Agent Assist platform provided valuable insights, allowing us to extend those benefits to other utilities. That’s the power of a true native SaaS company—ensuring the right guardrails, use cases, and framework so customers can confidently leverage their own content. Trust, data integrity, and security are at the core of what we do. That’s why we rigorously validate security, accuracy, and performance before deployment. Customer experience is our driving force, and the positive feedback we receive fuels our innovation. It’s been a fantastic collaboration, and we look forward to many more years as a trusted partner." 

Scaling AI Across the Utility Industry 

For utilities exploring AI-powered customer support, POWERCONNECT.AI can deploy a test environment in a few days, leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), advanced data models, and deep industry expertise. 

As energy and water providers continue facing growing expectations to enhance the customer experience while optimizing costs, POWERCONNECT.AI’s AI Virtual Agent Assist is delivering measurable results. AI-driven solutions have helped leading utilities reduce call center expenses by up to 30%, automate workflows within CIS systems, and boost customer satisfaction. With pre-built integrations into major CIS platforms like Oracle, SAP, and other leading utility systems, POWERCONNECT.AI is redefining the future of customer service—bringing intelligence, efficiency, and automation to the forefront of customer interactions. 

For more information or to schedule a demo, https://calendly.com/powerconnect_ai