Did you know that the annual energy trade between the United States and Canada exceeds $100 billion, forming the largest integrated energy market in the world?  Today, Opower is excited to announce a new kind of energy export with our friendly neighbors to the north: one that will help them save energy.

Opower is partnering with Efficiency Nova Scotia – a nonprofit organization that helps homeowners and businesses use energy better – to bring our Home Energy Reports to 90,000 homes and apartments across the province. In addition to educating households how their energy consumption compares to their neighbors and varies over time, the reports will provide customized tips and links to Efficiency Nova Scotia programs to help reduce household electricity consumption.

The program is scheduled to run for three years, during which participants will receive their Home Energy Reports throughout each year. A customer web portal will also be available later this spring on Efficiency Nova Scotia’s website, featuring even more detailed energy use data, tips and tools.

As Opower’s international presence continues to expand – we now have partnerships in England, France, Australia, New Zealand and more to be announced soon – we are thrilled to be launching a program just across the border. We look forward to growing our impact across Canada and helping more utility customers save energy in the future.

Check out the full press release on the Efficiency Nova Scotia program here.

One of Opower’s utility clients down under, EnergyAustralia, recently launched a lighthearted TV campaign to promote eWise, their newly rebranded Opower product (formerly MyEnergyReport). The series of commercials uses humor to capture customers’ attention, evoking images of extreme home energy consumption, such as two kids playing videogames in their living room sauna and a man who keeps a television in his refrigerator.

The message is clear: there are simple steps that people can take to reduce their home energy usage, and eWise can help make that happen. And the ads make the topic of energy consumption refreshingly fun and interesting for the public.

With the launch of our partnership with EnergyAustralia last fall, Opower brought its customer engagement platform to more than 1.5 million homes in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. Customers have access to eWise through a web portal that provides insights and information about how they are using energy. They also receive personalized tips on how to reduce energy consumption and save on their energy bills.

The Australian airwaves are only the beginning of the international buzz around Opower products. With 85 utility partners in on three continents and more international partnerships to be announced this year, our global presence is growing every day.

We look forward to seeing energy efficiency humor spread to languages and cultures across the world.

Yesterday Opower was named a 2013 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneer! We were excited to receive the award on Earth Day, alongside 9 other stand-out recipients (selected from more than 200 candidates around the world), at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit in New York City.

Now in its fourth year, the BNEF awards program annually brings together a panel of energy industry experts to recognize companies that excel on the following criteria: innovation, demonstrated momentum, and potential global scale. This year’s winners represent a broad range of sectors including bioenergy, energy efficiency, digital energy, solar, and water. We’re proud to be among them.

As the global leader in customer engagement solutions for the utility industry, Opower’s impact is expanding rapidly as we continue to grow our utility partnerships – we now work with 85 utilities and reach 16 million households across the world. To date, we’ve helped home energy users save over 2 terawatt-hours of energy, enough to power a city of 500,000 people for a year and reduce people’s energy bills by $280 million.

“This award is a recognition of the ground-breaking work our talented and creative team does on a daily basis and the passion we all share for helping people around the world save energy,” said Opower CEO and Founder Dan Yates.

Check out the full press release from the event here.