The UCA International Users Group is considering the creation of a community to support the "green button" initiative that is supported by the White House (see related Insight article). According to Erich Gunther, UCA International chairman, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Green Button initiative is moving forward very quickly.

Gunther stated that the Green Button is at once a concept, a policy, a brand and a collection of technologies and creates both opportunities and challenges for utilities and their customers. UCA will likely vote next week to move forward with the creation of a Green Button support mechanism. Those utilities interested in participating should contact UCA International or Klaus Bender at UTC. You will be provided relevant information when it is available.

California utilities Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison are collaborating to deliver "Green Button" customer energy data to about six million California customers. By clicking on the Green Button, up to 13 months of past energy consumption data is instantly exported into customer- and computer-friendly standard formats. The data will be delivered in standardized file formats for easy export to other applications. According to a White House blog post, the expectation is that access to this information will inspire innovative consumer applications and devices from entrepreneurs, businesses and students.

The Green Button system is based on a developing standard Open Automated Data Exchange (Open ADE). The particular standard for that common format, known as Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI), was finalized in a 1.0 version in October 2011; the federal government wants to make it a national smart grid standard.

According to reports on blogs such as Earth2Tech and GreenTechGrid other utilities including Southern California Edison, Glendale Power & Light, Oncor and Pepco Holdings will announce that they will also offer the feature later this year.

State Commissions appear to be accepting a standard approach to customer data access and privacy. The recent Colorado Public Utilities Commission decision on data privacy follows the earlier California Public Utilities Commission decision, in that they both agree that utilities have a right to collect and use customer data to provide regulated utility services. However, a distinction is being made between the data that the utility and utility affiliates need for forecasting and billing services from the data used by non-utility third parties. Additionally, the Commissions also note that utilities have a right to this data without customer consent, but this consent is required when it comes to third party users.

Is this the model that will be seen all over the country as more states adopt utility data privacy guidelines? Do they address utility and customer concerns for data access and security? An upcoming UTC webinar featuring a California utility and PUC official, as well as a Maryland utility and a consumer advocate will discuss the issues that these data privacy decisions by state regulators address. Additionally, the speakers will discuss how utilities can work with their customers to address privacy and security concerns stemming from such user data access. Attendees will also be able to discuss their utility and vendor perspectives on this issue. To learn more, contact legal@utc.org.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has issued a list of recommended smart grid data privacy rules that subject utilities to a whole range of requirements, and penalties up to $2000 per violation. The document also gives utilities up to 20 days to file their objections, and if no exceptions are received, the rules will become law. The rules would require utilities to explain their data collection processes, the frequency of data collection and the security measures that will be taken to ensure privacy of customers. Additionally, the utilities would be expected to provide this data to anyone authorized by the customers, with no charge to the customers or recipients.

A major step toward a standardized format for communicating actionable information on energy consumption to U.S. households has been achieved as the SGIP Governing Board voted to accept the third set of standards to emerge from the Priority Action Plan (PAP) teams.  The NAESB Energy Usage Information seed information model is the completed output for PAP 10.  The Board’s positive vote on January 28 signifies that these standards are now recommended for inclusion on the SGIP Catalog of Standards, where they will guide the development of an interoperable Smart Grid. 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 »