This year’s EURELECTRIC Award goes to Opower, global leaders in cloud-based software for the utility industry.

‘I am honoured to present the 2014 EURELECTRIC Award today to a company that has taken the buzzwords ’empowering customers’ to the next level, working with us – the utility industry – to make sure we can deliver energy efficiency using market-based, innovation-friendly means. Opower’s concept of dialoguing with customers blends perfectly with the theme of the EURELECTRIC conference, ‘Building trust in the new energy world’. It also brilliantly supports our message that policies centred on regulation (the stick) – savings obligations and the like – are less effective than those spurred by innovation and market competition (the carrot),’ said EURELECTRIC President Johannes Teyssen, presenting the award.

Founded in 2007, Opower is a publicly held ‘software-as-a-service’ company that partners with utility providers around the world to promote energy efficiency. Opower’s software provides customers with better information about their energy consumption, along with personalised ways to save energy and money. Utilities use the Opower software platform to deliver key customer-facing applications that reduce energy demand and improve customer perception of the utility. The average customer receiving the Opower platform has cut energy usage by more than 2.5 percent.

In addition to the industry award, a student award was presented to Oluwole Daniel Adeuyi, PhD candidate at the University of Cardiff, for the best essay response to the question’How can the EU ensure an affordable and secure supply of electricity in the new energy system?‘

The EURELECTRIC Award was inaugurated at the EURELECTRIC Convention in 2008. It seeks to honour companies or persons that have made a pioneering contribution towards the development of the electricity industry. Since 2010, EURELECTRIC has also organised a formal student competition as an integral part of its Annual Convention.