OPOWER is also changing the methods in which people can connect with their utilities, offering creative online tools and energy alert options to keep customers informed and on top of their energy use. The  US energy efficiency firm whose fans include US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron is now looking to transfer its rapid growth across the Atlantic to Europe. Opower already has contracts with 60 US utilities since being established in 2007.

OPOWER is Leading the Change for the Future of Utilities

by Carl Pierre Staff Writer  In The Capitol (1 March 2012):

I’ll be the first to admit that I rarely give my utilities bills a second look when I get them in the mail. To me, it’s mostly nonsensical metrics jargon of how much I consume, so I rarely look at anything past the portion that tells me how much I owe my power company.

If it’s too high, I try to turn off the lights more. If it’s low I smile, do a little dance, and do nothing to change any of my energy using habits. That about sums up all of my behavioral nuances in regards to energy.

What really bothers me is how much I really should be concerned about this piece of paper, and the very real impact all of those numbers have on my life and on the world. As we continue to integrate new technologies into our daily behavior, we continue to use more and more devices that depend on electricity. As the number of devices add up quickly, people are slowly realizing how much of an impact energy consumption has on our existence.

The problem is that the average person takes a fetish approach to electricity: we flip a switch and the room lights up, press a button and your TV turns on, or plug your laptop in and your batteries magically recharge. Do you actually know the intricacies of where your electricity comes from, how much of it you use, how much of it you waste, and how much is available on a global scale?

Probably not.

But OPOWER does.

Last week I was fortunate enough to speak with Ogi Kavazovic, head of OPOWER corporate marketing and strategy. During our conversation I was quite surprised at the tremendous lack of knowledge the average person (including myself) has on their energy consumption. It’s easy to blame a person for ignorance of their energy consumption, but the truth is that the real culprit is lack of education. People are unaware that they are capable of understanding the details behind their utilities bills and can adapt to new easy energy-saving behaviors.

I know it’s easy to write this off as yet another “green week” initiative or a ploy to save Mother Gaia, but the reality is that no matter how much we fight it, we will have to understand and engage our energy consumption. Ogi eloquently explained how many utilities companies need to approach their customers this way,

Utilities find themseleves in a new world where they have to learn how to interact with their customers and engage them. You need to involve your customers more in managing their energy, because now it’s not as simple as turning the lights on.

Too true.

Thankfully, OPOWER understands this need for utilities to evolve, and facilitates it by recreating the concept of the utility bill with energy reports that a consumer can understand. These reports are able to relay actionable information, like how much you consume compared to your neighbors, how much you should be consuming for a household your size, and even provides you with real-world advice on how to cut down on your bill. OPOWER is also changing the methods in which people can connect with their utilities, offering creative online tools and energy alert options to keep customers informed and on top of their energy use. You know you’re really engaging your energy consumption when you get a text at work that warns you of a possibly high electric bill. Yes, that is as awesome as it sounds.

I can (grudgingly) admit that I’m not perfect, but we can all certainly try harder to understand how much utilities should mean to us. As technologies quickly evolve, it’s easy to stop being mindful of abstract concepts like energy consumption but thankfully OPOWER is creating ways to ameliorate that. It’s exciting to think that this is the future of energy efficiency in the country, and that we’re capable of really controlling how much we affect the earth and our energy bills. Before we ended our conversation, Ogi left me with a rather interesting thought, “What a lot of people have not internalized yet is that we are all utilities customers. The relationship you have with your utilities are about to change in a very profound, and exciting way.”

A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.

Source: www.inthecapital.com

Energy efficiency company is in discussions with European utilities after signing UK deal with First Utility

By Will Nichols

A US energy efficiency firm whose fans include Barack Obama and David Cameron is now looking to transfer its rapid growth across the Atlantic to Europe.

Opower has expanded to be worth an estimated $1bn after signing contracts with 60 US utilities, including eight of the 10 largest in the country, since being established in 2007.

It has brought in revenues of $11.4m over the year from software that lets homeowners measure and benchmark their energy use and access reports containing tips on lowering consumption. Over five million households receive these reports and Opower claims 10 million users in the US alone.

Now the company’s European expansion drive has seen it clinch a deal with First Utility in the UK. Nandini Basuthakur, newly appointed as senior vice president and managing director of Opower’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, told BusinessGreen discussion are ongoing with “several” other European companies.

“There is a huge opportunity to transform the relationship between utilities and the customer,” she said. “The average consumer spends six minutes a year thinking about energy consumption. If utilities are seen to be efficient and optimising [consumers'] consumption, they think of them as good providers.”

Basuthakur added that targets to roll out 53 million smart meters and the flagship £14bn Green Deal energy efficiency scheme make the UK an attractive market.

“Smart meters and in-home displays [coming in] mean people will want more accurate information about their energy use,” she said. “But data isn’t everything – the technology is only as efficient as the people that use it. You have to have insights on how to cut consumption as well.”

Part of Opower’s success has been down to embracing new ways of communicating with customers – the company teamed up with social networking site Facebook last year to launch an app that lets consumers compare their bill with their friends’.

“We’re keen to look at the power of social networking to raise awareness of energy consumption,” Basuthakur said. “The Facebook platform enables consumers to benchmark their energy usage against the notional average of similar homes. People can enter competitions, share energy saving tips, all across the world.”

Having found a London office, Basuthakur’s next challenge is to recruit a team of five to eight people to push the company into Europe and the Middle East during 2012.

“There is a high growth environment in Europe and we’re looking to capitalise,” she said.

Source: www.businessgreen.com and www.opower.com