Smart Buildings

“Turning Entire Cities into Virtual Power Plants” with Opower & FirstFuel

Just 2 months after the signing of a strategic partnership between energy intelligence and software firms Opower and FirstFuel, the companies claim to be feeling the benefits already. The partnership signed in September this year, brought together Opower, who provide cloud-based software for the utility industry, and FirstFuel Software, provider of commercial energy intelligence. Combined, the firms provide a package to serve all customers across residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Third quarter financials were above expectations and Opower CEO Dan Yates said during his company's earnings call that a "major expansion" was also finalized during the third quarter 2014. Opower’s largest market remains the U.S. but recent growth has been seen overseas and with gas utilities, as well as cross sales with existing customers. International sales made up 16% of third quarter revenue, a figure that the company foresees growing to 50% in the long term. Within the U.S., however, Opower also sees significant room […]

Stay ahead of the pack

with the latest independent smart building research and thought leadership.

Have an account? Login

Subscribe Now for just $180 USD per year per user ( just $15 USD per month) for Access to Quality Independent Smart Building Analysis!

What Exactly Do you Get?

  • Read every article published in full and get unlimited access to our archive of over 1,400 articles.
  • 10% discount on ALL Memoori Research reports for Subscribers! So if you only buy ONE report you will get your subscription fee back!
  • Industry-leading Analysis Every Week, Direct to your Inbox.
  • AND Cancel at any time
Subscribe Now

Just 2 months after the signing of a strategic partnership between energy intelligence and software firms Opower and FirstFuel, the companies claim to be feeling the benefits already.

The partnership signed in September this year, brought together Opower, who provide cloud-based software for the utility industry, and FirstFuel Software, provider of commercial energy intelligence. Combined, the firms provide a package to serve all customers across residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

New_York

Third quarter financials were above expectations and Opower CEO Dan Yates said during his company's earnings call that a "major expansion" was also finalized during the third quarter 2014.

Opower’s largest market remains the U.S. but recent growth has been seen overseas and with gas utilities, as well as cross sales with existing customers. International sales made up 16% of third quarter revenue, a figure that the company foresees growing to 50% in the long term.

Within the U.S., however, Opower also sees significant room for growth. It will grow its platform with third-party vendors and also claimed it is working with a large system integrator that could help bring the company's products to additional utilities.

Surveys by the 2 firms have highlighted the desire of end users for “more energy information and advice”, claiming 90% of consumers “want more insights” on their electricity usage. The combination of Opower and FirstFuel products certainly seems to offer just that and, together, they cover all users; residential, commercial and industrial.

Between them the firms have analysed annual data from over 100 billion energy meters, which serves to optimise their energy saving software. Opower, with its 52 million residential and SME customers created savings of 5 TWh and $551 million. Similarly, FirstFuel, who have over 20 major utility and government clients, provide savings of 4.5 TWh and $600 million annually.

In late 2013 Opower piloted a project, which went one step further, their behavioural demand response programme. “We had to move from getting customers to reduce energy use some of the time to all of the time,” said Tom Mercer, group product manager for Opower.

Behavioural programs can also help increase participation in automated programs, by getting customers more involved in and used to energy saving programs, Mercer went on. It seems logical that only through considerable user engagement, can we achieve the levels of energy usage efficiency possible, and in that light, we can see the significance of the behavioural demand response programmes.

"We think there's enough information to show this is game-changing," stated Roderick Morris, Opower's senior vice president of marketing. "Behavioral demand response gives us the ability to engage any service territory anywhere instantly, turning entire cities into virtual peaking power plants".

For the fourth quarter, 2014, Opower said it expects total revenue to be in the range of $33.2 million to $33.6 million, and adjusted EBITDA is expected to be a loss between $5.5 million and $6 million. Total revenue for full-year 2014 is expected to be about $127 million, an increase from prior expectations of total revenue between $120 and $123.5 million. For the year, Opower anticipates adjusted EBITDA is will show a loss of around $15 million.

With more energy saving results and reports expected in the spring of 2015, we should expect to see further expansion of the Opower / First Fuel solutions, both in the US and internationally.

Most Popular Articles

Net Zero Buildings Balfour Hospital
Energy

Net Zero Buildings Explored – The Balfour Hospital

The Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall, on the remote Scottish islands of Orkney, has established itself as the first fully net-zero National Health Service (NHS) hospital in the UK in 2019. The £65 million facility, designed to accommodate 49 patients, has pioneered an innovative and sustainable approach to design, construction, and operation processes. Delivered by the […]

CXApp SPAC
Smart Buildings

Smart Building SPAC Trend Continues with Hybrid Work Play CXApp

Since 2019 the business world has been inundated with high-profile SPAC deals. And while we have certainly seen a slowdown in SPAC deals in recent months, the SPAC trend is by no means over. In the smart building industry, a new SPAC was completed this month, as workplace experience platform provider CXApp completed a business […]

Belimo
Energy

Belimo Building Controls Business & Growth Strategy 2022 Examined

In this Research Note, we examine the Belimo Group, based on their 2022 annual report, investor presentations, financial results announced on 6th March 2023 and their long-term growth strategy in the building automation field devices sector. Belimo Group, a listed company on the Swiss Stock Exchange, is headquartered in Hinwil, Switzerland with over 2,000 employees. […]

Subscribe to the Newsletter & get all our Articles & Research Delivered Straight to your Inbox.

Please enter a valid email

Please enter your name

Please enter company name

By signing up you agree to our privacy policy