(Washington, DC)  The Department of Energy’s (DOE) examinations of two big smart grid-related issues, consumer data access and privacy and utility communications needs, are now complete, DOE General Counsel Scott Blake Harris said today in announcing the top-line findings of these wide-ranging examinations.  Both of the DOE proceedings on this topic stem from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Plan, released last spring, which asked the DOE to dig deeper into the central questions of consumer energy data usage and the future of utility communications in the smart grid era.

Data Access and Privacy

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Harris outlined the major conclusions of the DOE’s report on smart grid data access, third party use and privacy issues.  In general, the various commenters in the data access and privacy proceeding were in very broad agreement, Harris said.  Among the areas of agreement for the various utility, telecom, technology, government and public interest groups who filed comments are: Read more »

All too often, I hear smart grid discussions started by someone suggesting that we really ought to come up with a definition for smart grids. Frankly, that makes me wonder how we ended up with so many people who claim to not know what smart grids are telling us what we should be doing about smart grids.

Seriously, if you don't know what smart grids are, either (a) be quiet and listen to those who do or (b) don't diminish what you do have to contribute to the discussion by highlighting what you don't understand about smart grids. Read more »

The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) seeks public comment on the creation of a Cybersecurity Roadmap, as recommended by the National Broadband Plan. The deadline for comments is September 23, 2010.

The notice rightly states that cybersecurity is a vital topic for the Commission because of the risk that unchecked vulnerabilities in the communications infrastructure pose for safety and privacy. The Plan calls for the Roadmap to identify the five most critical cybersecurity threats to the communications infrastructure and its end users, and to establish a two-year plan on how to address those threats. The Roadmap aims to identify vulnerabilities to communications networks or end-users and to develop countermeasures and solutions in preparation for, and response to, cyber threats and attacks in coordination with federal partners.

The Roadmap is an opportunity for utilities to comment on the high level of reliability and security required to run their internal communications networks that support the nation’s critical infrastructure. This effort to outline cybersecurity standards is one of the many being undertaken by the government as cybersecurity gets a larger focus. The Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are also drafting guidelines for cybersecurity principles for the industry. Additionally, utility customer experiences with security will determine their adoption and demand of smart grid enabled energy data management technologies.

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 »

At the annual conference of the American Business Media yesterday, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) outlined the provisions of a data privacy bill he expects to release today. The bill would provide consumers the right to opt out of having their personal information, including internet surfing habits, social networking sites visited, and the products and services they purchase, collected by companies engaged in behavioral targeting.

It would apply to the collection of personal information from consumers both online and offline and "initially require that all Web sites that collect information from consumers give consumers notice with respect to what information is collected, how it is used, who it is shared with, and the circumstances under which it is shared," Boucher said. Unaffiliated third party websites that collect data from multiple unaffiliated websites as well as those seeking to use sensitive personal information such as medical or financial data would be required to have the consumer's specific consent before using and collecting the information from them.

A letter cosigned by the Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group decried the inclusion of the “opt out” provision as “a blow to consumer protection” by allowing firms to collect and use data unless consumers specifically request that it not be collected. The letter also called for the right for consumers to review and correct the information and to prevent the linking of an individual’s name or address through an IP address, cookie or other identifier.

More on the implications of bill concerning the collection and use of data on a consumer’s energy use provided by SG meters will be determined once the bill is released.

(Washington, DC) As smart grid technologies take hold, two key technical challenges, maintaining consumer privacy and network security, will require constant diligence by utilities, experts told attendees today at UTC's Smart Grid Policy Summit. "I've told people to focus on what is unique to the smart grid," National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Senior Cyber Security Strategist Annabelle Lee said. NIST is charged with developing cyber security requirements that will be adopted as industry requirements by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"The difference with the smart grid is the granularity of the information," she said. "The functionality will not change with the smart grid. We'll still get electricity and a bill every month." Read more »

(Washington, DC) The utility industry is poised at the intersection of energy and broadband as it builds smart grids, a key Administration technology official said today here at UTC's Smart Grid Policy Summit. "This is ground zero," Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Executive Office of the President told Summit attendees.

"The fusion of information flows with the electrical system is one of the great transformations that we will see over the next several decades," McLaughlin said. Government should avoid a top-down approach when it comes to smart grid, he advised. "The strength of the U.S. system is decentralized processes." Read more »

(Washington, DC) While energy companies and tech suppliers concentrate on constructing smart grids, consumers will ultimately determine the success of next-generation utility networks, top government and business leaders agreed here today at "Power in Numbers: Unleashing Innovation in Home Energy Use," a conference hosted by Google in partnership with The Climate Group.

"We're really a consumer services company" Jason Few, President of Houston, TX-based electric utility Reliant Energy said. "Consumers are making power purchase decisions without any information. We don’t believe that is a good experience." To address the problem, Reliant is working with energy management tech provider Tendril Networks to empower consumers, Few said, offering homes that have advanced meters technological tools for managing energy consumption, including an in-home monitor that displays real-time information. Reliant Energy is focused on consumer innovation because it is a competitive energy provider but few utilities are motivated to enhance consumer capabilities because they don't face competition, according to Tendril Networks CEO Adrian Tuck. "If we don't solve that problem, then the [smart grid] technology will flounder," Tuck said. Read more »