13 January: "ENGIE North America Adds Nearly 2 GW of Renewable Energy in the U.S. in 2020," ENGIE North America press release.

13 January: "CTA Announces 2021 Smart Home Division Mark of Excellence Award Winners," CE Pro. “Energy Efficiency Product of the Year” - Logical Buildings, GridRewards.

08 January: "New Jersey Approves PSE&G's $778 Smart Meter Rollout," Greentech Media. Approval comes with regulator demand for energy data sharing.

31 December: "Top 10 Utility Regulation Trends of 2020," Greentech Media. #10 [Energy] Data Platforms Take Shape.

16 December: "Energy Department Announces $45 Million in Funding for Solar Technologies," U.S. Department of Energy post.

16 December: "Op-Ed: Smart Energy is Smart Policy," NJ Spotlight News.

14 December: "S&P Global Platts Names ENGIE 'Energy Company of the Year'," ENGIE Resources blog post.

07 December: "Companies Announce New Residential VPP for California," Power Magazine, OhmConnect.

03 December: "Fort Collins Utilities Launches MyData, Powered By UtilityAPI," UtilityAPI blog post.

02 December: "PUC Approves CUBs Petition for Open Data Access Standards," Minnesota Citizens Utility Board (CUB) blog post.

10 November: "Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Startup Spotlight: Virimodo," Alabama NewsCenter, Virimodo.

27 October: "London Hydro Builds on Past Success to Launch New Pilot," London Hydro Press Release.

09 September: "EnerWisely Confirms Energy Star Partnership for Energy Efficiency," EnerWisely press release.

New Hampshire is poised to move forward on a statewide, multi-use utility-customer energy-data platform that includes the benefits of the Green Button Connect My Data standard. Governor Christopher Sununu has signed Senate Bill (SB) 284—a bill introduced at the request of the Office of the Consumer Advocate (OCA). The OCA represents the interests of New Hampshire’s residential ratepayers.

The statewide, utility-customer energy-data platform would allow utilities, their customers, and authorized third parties to access the online platform and participate in the secure sharing of energy-usage data. The bill requires the platform to be certified by the Green Button Alliance and specifies that the platform supports the Energy Service Provider Interface of the North American Energy Standards Board and the Green Button Connect My Data data-access and -sharing initiative of the Green Button Alliance.

“Green Button is the gold standard,” explained Don Kreis, Office of the Consumer Advocate. Kreis worked with his director of finance, Jim Brennan, to draft a bill that strikes the right balance between data accessibility and data privacy.

“We built our data-platform proposal on top of the strong data-privacy protections our office previously persuaded our legislature to adopt,” Kreis explained. “Individual customers will have to give specific permission before third parties access their PII – personally identifiable information.” At the same time, the bill calls for the platform to make aggregated and anonymized data widely available.

The scalable and flexible platform will be a boon not just to innovative companies looking to develop energy-related services but also to municipalities seeking to make the benefits of retail electric choice available to their residents. A separate bill, also just signed by Sununu, allows cities and towns in New Hampshire to create “community choice aggregation” (CCA) plans—arrangements for securing lower energy prices or an energy-source mix that includes more renewables—on an opt-out basis; changing from out-in to opt-out has led CCA to explode in popularity in neighboring Massachusetts.

The New Hampshire data platform will be developed according to a collaborative process involving the state’s three investor-owned electric utilities and stakeholders with oversight by the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC must open a proceeding by year’s end to begin the process of determining how the platform will be governed, designed, and operated. There is also a provision that allows the PUC to pause the project if it is too costly.

“We’re confident we can demonstrate that a statewide, utility-customer data platform will not just be cost-effective but will help secure the benefits of deregulation and grid modernization for consumers at long last,” said Kreis.

13 September: "Pason Power, Energy Toolbase Merge to Create Comprehensive Energy Storage Platform," Solar Power World.
11 September: "EPA Recognizes Green Energy Solutions for Leading Green Power Use," Green Energy Solutions press release.
04 September: "London Hydro Sees Revenue Promise in Data-Crunching," London Free Press.
16 August: "BGE Named Among Nation's Utilities Most Trusted by Business Customers," Energy Central.
06 August: "NYSERDA, Con Edison to Launch Program to Award Providers for Energy Efficiency Upgrades," Daily Energy Insider.
06 August: "CUB Petitions PUC to Unleash Consumer Energy Data in Public Interest," CUB Minnesota Blog.
25 July: "NCS Pushes the Envelope with UtilityAPI Partnership," NCS press release.
10 July: "Demand Response is Dead. Long Live Flexiwatts!" OhmConnect Opinion article, Utility Dive.
03 June: "KERI Invites Japan's Power-Related Institutions to Seek Bilateral Cooperation," Korea IT Times.

The District of Columbia's Public Service Commission announced in a press release a Staff Proposed Order recommending, among other things, "Expansion of Green Button Connect My Data to residential customers in the District" in their next phases of grid modernization, touted as Power Path DC, with a new website describing Power Path DC. 

Here is a link to the DCPSC Releases Staff Proposed Order on Grid Modernization Recommendations press release.

Here is a link to the new Power Path DC site.

Do You Know?:

Green Button "Usage Summary" Capability Enables Utilities to Provide Non-energy Billing-statement Information and All Utility Billing Categories

Do you know the Green Button “Usage Summary” capability enables utilities to provide non-energy billing-statement information and contains all billing categories including:

• Payments; generation and distribution charges; tariff name; demand charges; third-party charges; administrative adjustments; etc.
• Green Button Usage Summary enables utilities to provide billing consumption for energy units, including cost, enabling energy managers to easily capture data from multiple locations to significantly simplify energy reporting.
• Green Button Usage Summary enables third-party applications to provide customers with a finer-breakdown of their monthly energy usage.

"Texas Smart Meter Settlement Could Grow Market for Energy Products," by Robert Walton, Utility Dive, notes that Texas regulators have approved recommendations to improve and streamline the state's smart meter data portal, including standardizing data transfers to be more in line with the Green Button Connect My Data standard.  Recommended reading: "Texas Decision Enhances Customer Choice of Enhanced Energy Providers" by Michael Murray, Mission:data Coalition.

"Survey: Solar Companies Want Software to Speed Growth, Manage Utility Rates," by Julia Pyper, Greentech Media.  Survey finds access to standardized Green Button energy usage data is a priority for solar software market and and also notes GBA members Energy Toolbase and UtilityAPI as popular software platforms.

"KWHCoin Aims to Build an Advanced Energy Economy that Connects Us All," by Tech Company News.  Interview with GBA member Girard Newkirk, CEO of GBA Member company: KWHCoin, regarding KWHCoin technology, partnerships and vision.

"NEM's 21st Annual Restructuring Conference Focuses on Next Phase of Consumer Choice Innovation and Opportunities in Energy Markets," Jeff Hendler, CEO of GBA member company: ETS - Energy Technology Savings, spoke at the Washington D.C. conference and discussed the importance of consumer access to consumption and demand data to enable consumer decisions to reduce energy costs and achieve clean energy goals.

"Snugg Home's Snugg Pro Adds Support for Green Button," discusses benefits of standardized Green Button energy data and how it speeds the home energy auditing process, with a two-minute demo.

"Access to Data: Bridging the Electricity Grid Into the Information Age" by Coley Girouard, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE).  Green Button standard noted as leading standard for utility data exchange.

Washington D.C. council members introduced the "Distributed Energy Resources Act of 2018" to modernize the District of Columbia's energy grid.  The new DER Authority would house real-time energy use data in a central location and create a marketplace for D.C. businesses and residents to contribute renewable energy toward the District's energy supply.

Energy Consumers Australia's "Consumer Access to Energy Data" response to government consultations on implementing Australia's Consumer Data Right for energy; Green Button Connect My Data noted.

"Opinion: Giving Ohio Electric Consumers More Control Over Their Usage Benefits the Industry and the Environment" by J.D. Burrows, ENGIE Resources.

An article about "How the Green Button Initiative Could Open Up a World of Innovation" by the Association of Power Producers of Ontario (APPrO).

Smart Meter Texas (SMT) settlement calls for streamlined customer authorization process and Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) API. Read more in the 06 February article: "Texas Takes a Big Step in Improving Access to Smart Meter Data" by Jeff St. John, Greentech Media.

"Consumer Platform of the Future" report, by Green Button Alliance member Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), found that about half of U.S. energy consumers would probably or definitely use the "Platform," which was defined as an online energy resource that would combine energy usage data, user preference settings, real-time energy data, energy programs and offers, and use this information to help the user understand and manage home energy use.

Green Button Alliance member Energy Technology Savings (ETS) featured in article: "ETS Using Technology to Slash Multifamily Energy Costs" by Tom Bergeron, ROI-NJ.

GBA Members spoke at the SECC’s 2018 Consumer Symposium (The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative is a GBA Affiliate Member organization).  Members of the Green Button Alliance, including the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), participated on the “Enabling Consumers with Access, Choice and Control of their Energy Data” panel, moderated by Jeremy J. Roberts, General Manager, GBA at the Consumer Symposium: “Transforming the Customer Relationship.”

The Symposium was co-located with DistribuTECH and took-place at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. 

Advocacy group, Mission:data announced that utility Xcel Energy will Bring Smart Meters and Green Button Connect My Data to Colorado.

The Green Button standard is featured in the article “How Focused Data Use Analysis Leads to Energy Efficiency” by Klaar De Schepper in this June 2017’s issue of Buildings Operating Management magazine.

Green Button Alliance member the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative’s (SGCC) consumer education site features a page dedicated to educating consumers about their Green Button data.