AI That Lowers the Bill

At a mall in Westlands, an AI controller watched weather plus footfall to pre-cool in the morning, then relaxed chillers before the evening peak. Pair that with smarter defrost cycles on supermarket freezers and you get an 11% energy cut without staff touching a thing. Shoppers only noticed that the store stayed comfortable even when the outside heat index climbed. If you already run a BMS, the AI can sit on top and feed it setpoints. If you don’t, start small with smart thermostats, Wi‑Fi relays, and a local gateway so control keeps working during Kenya Power blips. Always measure kWh and KES saved per action, cap maximum temperatures to avoid sweaty customers, and send a weekly two-line report to operations and finance. That quick loop builds trust: “We saved KES 54,000 this week, comfort stayed within target, here are the top three actions.” When a pilot works, scale store by store without needing an expensive rip-and-replace.