Our Thinking

New Employee Spotlight: Nat Futterman, Come on Down!

I’ve just joined the SysOps team in San Francisco.  I’ve lived in the Bay Area for about 8 years (currently in the East Bay) but am originally from Alturas, in the middle of nowhere in the northeast corner of California.  Before Opower, I spent a year and a half at Box, where I worked on their datacenter and storage operations teams. But I’ve also run a phone hotline for farmers in Uganda and been a bike courier.

What made you want to join Opower?
My background is in information access in international development, which I started in as a social scientist, but ended up on the technical side.  My interest remains in clever ways to use technology to give people more and better information to guide their decisions. And that’s very much what Opower’s mission is.  I’m thrilled to be at a company with such a material positive effect on the world.

What has been your favorite thing about Opower so far?
The values: in addition to how skilled and talented my new colleagues are, it’s a really good feeling to work somewhere with so many people who actually care about our company’s bigger goals.  For example, I love that people care about recycling and composting and that biking to work is normal and encouraged.

What are some of your hobbies?
Outside of work, I spend most of my time riding and working on bikes, and I’ve been known to race cyclo-cross.  I also teach bike maintenance classes at a bike co-op in San Francisco called the Bike Kitchen.

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Our Thinking

Opower Advisory Board adds two new utility industry all-stars

We’re thrilled to welcome two new faces to Opower’s Advisory Board: John Rowe (former chairman and CEO of Exelon – the third largest power company in the US) and Dick Kelly (former CEO of Xcel Energy and the current Chairman of the Edison Electric Institute).

These widely recognized industry leaders bring unrivaled utility and regulatory experience to help guide Opower’s growth domestically and internationally.

John RoweDick Kelly

New members of Opower’s Advisory Board, John Rowe (left) and Dick Kelly (right)  

In addition to the arrival of Rowe and Kelly, current board member Tom Brady will take on the role of Chairman of the Advisory Board. Brady is the former chairman of Baltimore Gas and Electric.

Our other Advisory Board members include Fred Butler (former member of the Board of Directors at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners) and Dian Gruenich (former Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission.

You can check out the full press release here.

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Our Thinking

Cha-ching! Opower programs have shaved off $300 million from utility customers’ energy bills

America’s big multi-million-dollar news this week centered on an 84-year Florida woman named Gloria MacKenzie. Coming forward to claim her victory in last month’s record-breaking Powerball lottery, she opted to take her prize as a lump sum, which will amount to $270 million after taxes. She became the largest sole lottery winner in US history.

We congratulate Gloria, but think we may have her beat.

That’s because as of this week, Opower’s behavioral efficiency programs have helped utility customers save $300 million dollars on their electricity and gas bills (based on 2.6 terawatt hours of cumulative energy savings)!

What can $300 million buy?

Congratulations to all the utility customers whose access to personalized energy insights has enabled their energy bills to shrink. Keep up the good work!

Calculations: Cumulative Opower program energy savings to date of 2.6 terawatt hours; average residential retail electricity price of $0.118/kWh; total bill savings to date of $306.8 million.

Solar panels and Nissan Leafs: Average solar array rated at 4,000 watts. Average cost of $5.04 per installed watt in Q4 2012. 2013 Nissan Leaf is $18,800. Golden, CO has 7,778 households. Total cost of Arrays + Leafs = 7,778 * [(4,000*$5.04)+$18,800] = $303 million.

Tuition at University of Virginia: For 2012-2013, undergraduate tuition (across 15,762 undergraduates) is $12,216 and graduate tuition (across 8,535 graduate students) was $13,278. Aggregate 1-year tuition fees = (15,762*$12,216) + (8,535*$13,278) = $306 million.

Vacation from Buffalo to Miami: Population of Buffalo is 259,384 people. Survey research from American Express estimates average expected per-person expenditure for a summer getaway at $1,180. Total cost = 259,384 * $1,180 = $306 million.

The above three purchase calculations are mutually exclusive rather than additive.

Thanks to Ashley Sudney and Matthew Ward. 

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