October 2019: Oracle

Oracle Utilities, our VAEEC October Featured Member, delivers proven applications – both on premises and in the cloud – that help electric, gas, and water utilities worldwide enhance customer experiences, increase operational efficiency, and achieve performance excellence. Today, Oracle is the single largest provider of mission-critical cloud services in the utilities industry, serving the entire utility value chain from the grid to the meter to end customers, enabling customers with the ability to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands, and deliver on environmental conservation commitments.

The Oracle Utilities Opower customer engagement platform is effective because it leverages customer energy usage data to deliver personalized insights that are tailored for each individual residential household. The dynamic feedback loop derived from the platform’s analytics and delivery engines helps Oracle refine customer insights over time, helping our utility clients engage customers in ways that are meaningful and relevant in the long run. Opower’s Energy Efficiency and Peak Management Solutions leverage the combination of technology and behavioral science to engage utility customers with constantly-evolving energy insights and advice. Delivered via email and paper Home Energy Reports, as well as through an energy efficiency web portal, these solutions have contributed to verifiable energy savings (typically 1.5 – 2.5%, with savings 1.5-2 times higher during peak times) across our utility client’s territories.

Digital Assistant: The role of customers is becoming more important in the decentralized and high renewable grid of the future. Customers can now install solar on their roofs, use electricity from batteries or their electric vehicle to power their home and control their appliances through their smart phones. This shift changes the relationship between customers and their utility. At Opower we recognize that nurturing customers throughout this change is good for the utility and the environment. Modern customers expect easy and digital communication with their utility, especially as smart speakers and digital assistants start to become part of everyday use. Opower is working with utilities to offer a Digital Assistant that enables typical conversations around billing and energy savings. Embracing this new channel will delight customers and help utilities reduce call volumes.

Behavioral Load Shaping: Increasing penetration of wind and solar on the grid during the day is making peak demand worse in utilities. Utilities are embracing time-of-use rates to encourage customers to shift load from peak to off peak hours and are relying on Opower to help with that transition. Opower’s latest solution, Behavioral Load Shaping or BLS, provides customers on time of use rates with personalized and data driven digital communications. These communications inform customers of when they are using the most electricity and offer insights on how they canshift or reduce their usage during peak hours. Opower has deployed this solution with Exelon’s time-of-use customers in Maryland.