Stadtwerke Lindenau GmbH, 150 employees
A municipal utility (power, gas, water) whose customer centre, meter-to-cash billing and regulatory reporting drown a small office team in forms, market-communication errors and BNetzA/KRITIS paperwork.
How it works
- Check the numbers. Each step shows the hours your company spends on it per week. Click a number to change it, or set it to 0 if the step does not exist for you.
- Insert building blocks. Click a coloured block in a step. Below it you read in plain words what the AI would do there and what stays with your people. The shadow under the step shrinks.
- Read the result. The dark bar at the bottom shows the key figures; the full calculation with cost, return and a curve is below the departments.
Block colours show how you get it:
A dashed box means no building block exists yet.
Where AI helps most here
Start with what saves the most. Many blocks run on the same platform (e.g. one AI workplace for the office): you buy it once, and every further step only needs configuring.
Biggest single levers
Packages: many steps in one go
Link copied. It holds all your settings, nothing is stored on a server.
The company from above
Each building is a department. Its height shows how much work happens there, each window is a recurring task, and the shadow on the ground is the manual work. Click a building to open it. Windows light up where AI helps, and the shadow gets shorter.
Customer Centre & Sales
10 steps, 473 h per week
Handling customer requests
- Answer phone callsCustomer advisor h/week
- Sort and answer e-mails and lettersCustomer advisor h/week
- Meter readings and bill queriesCustomer advisor h/week
- Complaints and mediation casesTeam lead customer service h/week
Contracts and supplier switches
- Register moves and switchesCustomer administrator h/week
- Process terminations and relocationsCustomer administrator h/week
- Price-change letters and tariff switchesCustomer administrator h/week
Sales and marketing
- Offers for business customersSales manager h/week
- Heat, PV and charging offersEnergy consultant h/week
- Newsletter and social mediaMarketing h/week
Metering & Billing
11 steps, 555 h per week
Metering
- Check meter readings for plausibilityBilling clerk h/week
- Read meters on siteMeter reader h/week
- Plan meter exchange (calibration)Meter service planner h/week
- Install and exchange metersMetering technician h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
Billing
- Clear annual billing error listsBilling clerk h/week
- Market communication clearingMaKo specialist h/week
- Settle EEG feed-in and redispatch 2.0 dataGrid billing specialist h/week
- Adjust advance paymentsBilling clerk h/week
Receivables
- Match incoming paymentsAccounts receivable clerk h/week
- Dunning and collectionAccounts receivable clerk h/week
- Payment plans and disconnection talksCustomer advisor h/week
Grid, Water & Maintenance
16 steps, 1,180 h per week
Faults and outages
- Switching operations and grid control (24/7)Control room operator h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
- Take fault reports (on-call)Control room operator h/week
- Fix faults on siteGrid technician h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
- Write fault and job reportsGrid technician h/week
Maintenance and network data
- Plan maintenance and renewalsMaintenance planner h/week
- Inspect lines and stationsGrid technician h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
- Update GIS and as-built plansGIS technician h/week
- Answer line-location requestsGIS technician h/week
House connections and construction
- Check connection applicationsNetwork planner h/week
- Coordinate excavation permitsConstruction coordinator h/week
- Build house connections and cable trenchesCable fitter h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
- Photo-document construction acceptanceConstruction supervisor h/week
Water works and network control
- Document drinking water samplesWater technician h/week
- Analyse water losses and leaksWater technician h/week
- Operate waterworks and pumping stationsWater technician h/weekHands-on work, AI can hardly help
- Load forecast and feed-in controlControl room operator h/week
Regulation, Purchasing & Compliance
10 steps, 380 h per week
Regulatory reporting
- Revenue cap and cost data (BNetzA)Regulation manager h/week
- Monitoring data and price sheetsRegulation manager h/week
- Track regulatory changesRegulation manager h/week
Purchasing and tenders
- Prepare tender documents (SektVO)Purchaser h/week
- Evaluate bidsPurchaser h/week
- Energy procurement and hedgingEnergy trader h/week
- Check incoming invoicesAccounts payable clerk h/week
KRITIS and compliance
- IT security evidence (BSI, NIS2)IT security officer h/week
- Data protection requests and RoPAData protection officer h/week
- Safety audits and TSM documentationSafety officer h/week
Administration: HR, Finance, IT
9 steps, 317 h per week
HR and works council
- Recruit skilled workersHR clerk h/week
- On-call and shift planningTeam lead h/week
- Prepare Personalrat proposalsHR clerk h/week
Finance and controlling
- Month-end close and reconciliationAccountant h/week
- Reports for shareholder (city)Controller h/week
- Asset accounting for gridAccountant h/week
IT operations
- IT helpdesk and user supportIT administrator h/week
- Access reviewsIT administrator h/week
- Patch and monitor SCADA and ITIT administrator h/week
Your calculation
Example calculation for orientation. Prices, hours and savings are estimates for a fictitious company, not an offer, a promise or advice. Your real figures depend on your processes, your software and the providers you choose.
Insert building blocks or a package to see the calculation.
What you put in
Click a row to see the individual building blocks.
What comes back
- Time saved
- Value of that time
The value is working time that becomes free for other work; it is not automatically lower wages. The curve counts the freed time from the first month on. All figures are rough estimates.
Parts list for your selection
| Block | Used in | Saves | Value per year | One-off | Monthly | Data | Risk of failure |
|---|
Every row shows the amount that goes into your calculation; the rows add up to the totals. Blocks on a platform (AI workplace, automation, transcription, accounting AI, ...) only cost their configuration; the platform itself appears once with its rollout and its seats or base fee (prices researched 2026). Stand-alone solutions use the middle of the catalog price band, scaled to the size of the company.
Assumptions and sources
No external study was fetched while building this model; all hours are careful estimates for a typical 150-employee Stadtwerk with about 45 working weeks. About 50 percent of the workforce is field and plant staff (grid, water works, meter service) and is only partly modelled as no_ai steps; about 35 percent is office staff in customer service, billing, regulation, purchasing, finance, HR and IT. Hours are per week for the whole company, derived as FTE share times 40 h (e.g. customer centre: 8 FTE of which about 4 on phone = ca. 120 h). Not all 6000 weekly capacity hours are modelled: holidays, meetings, training, management and field travel are excluded. Regulatory context: EnWG, StromNZV/GasNZV, MaKo (BDEW/BNetzA GPKE, GeLi Gas, MaBiS), ARegV, TrinkwV, DVGW/TSM, BSI-KritisV, NIS2UmsuCG, VgV/SektVO, DSGVO, GoBD, TVöD/TV-V and Personalrat co-determination. Fachkräftemangel hits Netzmeister, IT and billing specialists. Check against own figures before publishing.