Opower is a privately held software-as-a-service company that partners with utility providers to promote energy efficiency. Through contracts with 52 utility companies in 22 USA states, Opower's software creates individualized Home Energy Reports for utility customers that analyze their energy usage and offer recommendations on how to save energy and money by making small changes to their energy consumption. The average customer receiving Opower reports has cut energy usage by more than 2.5 percent.

Opower's energy reports currently reach 2 million homes, and the company expects to quadruple that number in 2011. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy concluded in a June 2010 report that customer-feedback programs, like Opower's, could boost energy security, help the environment and save consumers money. "[F]eedback is proving a critical first step in engaging and empowering consumers to thoughtfully manage their energy resources," the study said.

Founded in 2007 by long-time friends Dan Yates and Alex Laskey, Opower is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. As of March 2011, it employs 185 people. In June 2010, iLike founder Hadi Partovi joined Opower's board to advise on its West Coast growth strategy. In July 2010, Opower opened a second office in San Francisco and had Fred Butler, a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and commissioner of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, join its board.

Dan Yates is a novelist most well known for his Angel series. A resident of Phoenix, Arizona, his writing efforts have resulted in productions and local publications in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which he has also served as a bishop and high councilor.

Yates has written a collection of books, namely Angels Don't Knock!, Just Call me an Angel, Angels to the Rescue, An Angel in the Family, It Takes an Angel, An Angel's Christmas, Angel on Vacation and An Angel in Time. All of the books include the same main characters, namely Jason Hackett, Samantha Allen (Hackett) and Gus. He has also written a collection of books that include a different set of characters and settings written after the initial Angel series, including Eyes of an Angel, Lack of Evidence, Walk With an Angel and Angel Island.