Opower Expands Cloud-Based Small and Medium Business Solution

Opower, the global leader in cloud-based software for the utility industry, today announced the expansion of its small and medium business (SMB) solution to deliver energy efficiency savings for three new utility clients, including National Grid. Opower’s expanded SMB solution builds on its experience delivering analysis and recommendations to nearly 1 million SMB utility customers through its energy-insights web platform, as well as its energy efficiency programs with more than 20 million residential customers at 90 utilities worldwide. Opower’s SMB solution runs on the latest iteration of the Opower platform, Opower 5, which will be released next month.

“Small and medium businesses represent a difficult to reach segment for utilities, largely because these business owners lack the time and tools to manage their energy use,” said Dan Yates, Opower CEO and Co-Founder. “Our solution provides these customers with Business Energy Reports, which make saving energy simple and strategic for businesses. We use behavioral science to capture the attention of business owners, give them greater control over their energy expenditures, and strengthen their relationships with their utilities.”

SMB customers are a critical group for utilities. They use five times more energy, on average, than their residential counterparts and together account for half of commercial sector electric use. But these heterogeneous businesses with diverse needs have been notoriously difficult to engage in utility programs – with participation levels often less than 5%. Opower’s expanded SMB solution offers a number of features to help utilities engage these customers:

Simple, personalized energy insights and advice that make it easy for busy SMB owners to save energy and learn about utility rebate programs
Comparisons to similar businesses using an algorithm that takes into account thousands of business categories, open hours and square footage
Tools to help business owners enlist employees and customers to use less energy
Personal touches to grab the attention of the person responsible for making energy decisions at the business, such as company logos
Deep investment in proprietary data collection, validation, and analytics

“The Opower platform, which combines behavioral science and data analytics, has been a powerful tool for our residential customers in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island,” said Tom Baron, Senior Program Manager at National Grid. “We are excited to bring this new solution to our small and medium business customers as an additional service to help them make smarter decisions about their energy consumption.”

SOURCE: Opower