From provider to adviser: Opower launches suite of tools for utilities

Dive Brief:

Analytics company Opower paired up with Enervee to launch a marketplace of services and incentives, aiming to change the way consumers buy energy products.
The Marketplace Suite will contain information about more than 600,000 product and service offers from hundreds of retailers, the companies said.
The marketplace will allow utilities to effectively target customers with incentives and offers, drive higher program participation rates and profit from energy efficiency.

Dive Insight:

Customers trust their utilities, said Opower CEO Dan Yates. So the company has developed a marketplace for energy products that can position utilities to act as more of an energy advisor than a provider.

“The energy landscape is changing,” Yates said in a statement. “With the rise of electric vehicles, distributed generation, smart thermostats and battery storage, customers have more options for energy products and advice than ever. But research shows that customers already trust their utilities, and our joint solution with Enervee helps further position utilities as energy advisors, enabling them to expand their relationship with customers beyond the energy bill.”

Opower, a software company known for its work on behavioral analytics and demand response tools, wants utilities to see the marketplace as a simple way to engage customers with their products while also improving the end-use experience and opening up new revenue streams. The marketplace will include a broad selection of products, customer targeting and marketing tools, an analytics dashboard and a mobile platform for end-users.

Opower said the new platform will also potential new revenue streams "by giving utilities the opportunity to capture commission on product sales and advertising dollars without being burdened by backend logistics and order fulfillment."

"With current deployments at several leading utilities, we have a proven technology platform that engages consumers throughout the buying process and provides unique energy insights that they can’t find anywhere else,” said Enervee CEO Matthias Kurwig. “Combining our solution with Opower’s industry-leading cloud software delivers an end-to-end shopping experience that is unmatched in the utility space.”