As utilities and other critical infrastructure industries (CIIs) move forward in the development and deployment of smart grids, marketing ploys that misrepresent their capabilities and needs have been implemented that are designed to skew both decision making and regulatory oversight. The marketing ploys ignore the fact that CIIs will ultimately choose to build their own networks or buy telecom services based upon technical requirements, costs and levels of service required. CIIs have and will continue to utilize others to provide telecom services for certain aspects of their operations and smart grid deployments based upon these criteria. For many of the reasons identified in UTC's new Information Bulletin, CIIs will meet their telecom needs by expanding their existing networks. As described in the Bulletin, the rhetoric which has been introduced into the marketplace tends to understate the real capabilities of utilities and other critical infrastructure industries and overstate the capabilities of others. UTC's new Information Bulletin has separated fact from fiction and can be found on the UTC website.

Ensuring consumer privacy and ability to control access to their energy usage information to be given highest priority, declares recent resolution by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) at their Summer committee meetings.  With Congress and the U. S. Department of Energy currently looking at the issue of consumer data, privacy and access, NARUC stepped forward to voice it's opinion.  NARUC recognized the needed balance of ensuring privacy of consumer data while allowing for the benefits the deployment of smart grid promises.  NARUC also resolved that utilities, subject to State commission oversight,  need to make cost-effective decisions while at the same time safeguarding their customer's privacy, and that authorized third parties have responsibilities to protect this information and the privacy of consumers.  Finally, NARUC resolved that any Congressional or federal agency action should respect and incorporate State rules and ongoing State authority to protect ratepayers' privacy and ability to control access to their energy usage information.

Balancing benefits of consumer access to their own consumption data with the costs anticipated by the various approaches was stressed by UTC comments filed in DOE’s request for information on data access, third party use, and privacy. UTC noted that the innovative deployment by energy utilities of smart meters and smart control systems will create a smart energy grid that will unlock the value of what has been called the Energy Information Economy. Smart energy grids will create an environment in which consumers will have greater abilities to manage their own energy usage and utilities will have new tools to affect grid-wide energy efficiencies never before possible. The key to all this is data. How to provide secure access to it for customers and their agents is the crux of this RFI’s questions and the focus of UTC’s responses. Read more »

(Washington, DC) Consumer privacy and access to consumption data are two key components to ensuring continued consumer support for smart grid deployments, participants said today during the Department of Energy's (DOE) Roundtable discussion on its Privacy and Data Access Request for Information (RFI). A group representing utilities, technology vendors and consumer advocates responded to a wide range of questions from DOE General Counsel, Scott Blake Harris. The bottom line consensus among the participants is that ensuring the privacy and security of consumer data is essential to consumer acceptance of the smart grid. Read more »

The argument is being made that smart grid supporters should support “net-metering” since it will spur renewables, which will in turn require smart grids to integrate them efficiently. What the argument ignores is the fact that net-metering requires those who can least afford it, to subsidize the very rich. Moreover, there already are alternative ways of spurring renewables in more cost effective ways. Support of smart grid deployments should be based upon the value that it will provide to consumers and their utilities, not on its ability to create subsidies from those who can least afford it.

Net-metering requires utilities to overpay for renewable generation by paying for the energy delivered to the utility using a bundled retail rate that includes not only the generation charge (which would be more appropriate), but also all distribution, transmission and other utility costs. The end result is that those consumers/suppliers fail to pay their fair share of the utility’s fixed costs and consequently the revenue shortfalls are ultimately added to the bills of all other consumers. Additional financial problems are created for utilities and ultimately their consumers when energy supplied to the utility at night, which generally has a very low value, is netted out against energy taken from the utility during the peak of the day, which is the most expensive power to purchase or generate. Alternatively, “net-billing” prices energy sold to consumers at the normal state set retail rate, but prices energy delivered to the utility at prices that reflect the real market value to the utility of the energy. While this might mean payments at rates that exceed non-renewable energy prices, the payments reflect least cost renewable alternatives. Read more »