Glendale, Calif., April 2, 2012 — Glendale Water & Power customers now have the ability to share and compare their energy use with friends on Facebook.
The social energy app is designed to provide people with a better sense of their energy use while fostering friendly competition and provides new ways for people to discover savings opportunities.
Consumers can use this new platform to share their experiences and tips on energy consumption. To get started, GWP customers should visit social.opower.com or search for the “Opower” app on Facebook and connect their utility account.
People who sign up will immediately see how their energy use compares to others, providing context for how efficient their home is versus comparable households. As friends are invited and join, people will then be able to compete against each other in savings competitions.
The social energy app is the result of a partnership between Opower, Facebook, and the Natural Resources Defense Council offered by GWP as a new way for customers to get further engaged in their energy use and cut unnecessary energy costs. Millions of homes across the U.S. can choose to connect their utility account with the app and start participating.
According to NRDC, improvements in energy efficiency have the potential to deliver more than $700 billion in cost savings in the U.S. alone. Understanding how people consume energy and their behavior around managing their use is critical to capturing this unlocked energy efficiency potential.
Motivating consumers to take action — a longstanding challenge — is the key to unlocking this potential. The social energy app is one of the many things that GWP is offering customers to become more informed energy users.
