The Power of Opower

Hi folks, this is Don Ames with a little heads up on Opower. Opower, in my own words, is a service that power companies can use that allows them to add a whole bunch of “energy saving” information right on your monthly electric bill. With this additional data, that is designed specifically for your home, you can begin to see areas where you can conserve energy and then you get a follow up on how your doing with the next bill.

Two programs that I really liked and supported, microsoft-hohm and google powermeter, are stopping their service and taking the programs off the web. In a way, Opower is taking over and suppling energy saving information in a new way that seems to better fit the consumers needs.

Read on to learn more about the power of Opower. Comment by Don Ames

Opower reports deliver personalized information about energy usage in your home or small business, and offer easy-to-follow tips that can quickly lead to energy savings. Customized at the household level, our reports likely offer the best energy-efficiency advice you’ve had in years..

• Neighbor Comparison: Compares your household’s monthly energy usage to that of 100 occupied, similarly sized homes nearby
• Cooling Comparison: Shows how much energy you use to cool your house compared to your neighbors, along with personalized tips for saving more.
• Heating Comparison: Shows how much energy you used to heat your house last winter compared to your neighbors, along with personalized tips for saving more this year
• Last 12 Months Neighbor Comparison: Compares your household’s monthly energy usage to that of 100 occupied, similarly sized homes nearby
• Home Audit Promo: Presents three questions for you to complete at a time as part of an evolving, on-going home energy audit
• Dual 12 Month Graphs: Compares your electricity and gas usage rankings to that of your neighbors and your most-efficient neighbors on an annual basis by month
• Neighbor Rank: Shows changes in your household’s efficiency rank over the past six months in comparison to 100 occupied, similarly sized homes nearby

A new experience for utility customers:

Opower is a new customer engagement platform for the utility industry. It reinvents the way utilities interact with customers—from the quality of the information provided to the way it’s presented and delivered. It helps people use energy more efficiently and ultimately save money on their energy bills.

• And it vastly improves the overall customer experience by making energy use personally relevant.
• Happy, efficient customers: that’s the “new normal” for our 53 utility partners. Welcome to Opower.

Are you Opowered?

Our tools are only available through utility providers. See if your gas or electric company provides Opower by going to the Opower web site and typing in your zip code.

Opower works with utilities across the country to deliver an entirely new customer experience. We are helping our utility partners transition from power companies to energy management services providers, leading to large-scale energy efficiency gains and more satisfied customers. We work with 53 utilities and more than 10 million households.

Home Energy Reports

Opower is probably best known for pioneering the Home Energy Report. Think of it as a more interesting incarnation of your gas or electric bill. More than 3 million homes receive our reports today, and they’re on track to save hundreds of millions of dollars on their energy bills.

Results

We have been measuring and verifying our results with our utility partners since day one, and we’ve built an ever-expanding array of data that shows a simple and compelling conclusion: Opower works. Information-based energy efficiency (IBEE) is one of the most exciting new sources of large-scale energy savings. It is reliable, consistent, and cost-effective.

Typical Dual Fuel Results:

Gas and Electric Show more daily and seasonal peak reductions. Overall energy savings are great, of course, but their timing is just as important. Opower program participants actually save the most energy during peak usage periods—a result that benefits both utilities and their customers.

One of the most satisfying outcomes we’ve seen across our programs is that energy efficient customers are happy customers. We’ve measured statistically significant increases in utility customer satisfaction as a direct result of Opower program participation.

Opower has become a favorite tool for energy efficiency directors and utility marketing teams alike. Customers exposed to the Opower platform are more likely to participate in other utility programs and promotions—making both marketing and energy efficiency departments happy.