Newsletter | February 2023

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The GBA Welcomes 2023 Board of Directors
GBA Directors Collaborate to Drive Open, Standards-based Energy Data Access Adoption
Annually, GBA members from the GBA's Participating Member companies vote to elect two representatives from amongst their colleagues at Participating Member companies to join the GBA’s Board of Directors. Following the 2023 Board of Directors election’s conclusion in November, the newly elected directors were announced at the GBA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 17 November.
The GBA is proud to welcome new directors Nora Xu, Market Operations Manager, OhmConnect, who was elected to serve in a one-year seat (2023), and James “Jay” Lewis, CEO, Big Data Energy Services, who was re-elected for a two-year seat (2023-2024). Bill Pfister, Sr. Director, Business Analytics, Edison Electric Institute (EEI), was elected in 2021 to serve in a two-year seat, and begins the second year of his term (2022-2023). The GBA's newly elected board members commenced their positions on GBA’s Board of Directors on 01 January 2023.
GBA's Annual General Meeting Featured Green Button Leaders, Use Cases, and New Green Button Solutions
In recognition of the 1-year mark of Ontario's visionary energy data policy that is bringing standards-based Green Button energy data access and secure data-sharing to energy customers across the province, the GBA held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) & Green Button Meet-up on 17 November in Toronto, Ontario. The GBA's AGM featured talks from Green Button leaders, market updates, use-cases, the presentation of the GBA's Chairman's Award and more. Directly following the AGM, the Green Button Meet-up featured GBA member companies' new Green Button solutions being deployed in the province, enabling Meet-up attendees to learn about Green Button implementations, products, services and additional use-cases, directly from the solution providers.
Ontario's Minister of Energy, Todd Smith, discussed Ontario's leadership in putting families and businesses in control of their energy usage; enabling them to track and manage their energy consumption; save on monthly bill costs; while helping to reduce carbon and supporting a cleaner environment. He commended the province's utilities, innovators, and stakeholders on their continuing Green Button collaboration and progress.
Minister Smith was joined by GBA expert speakers including GBA Chair Syed Mir, London Hydro; Jeremy J. Roberts, GBA; GBA Vice Chair Daniel Roesler, UtilityAPI; Tracy Lynch, Enbridge Gas; Bob Champagne, Smart Energy Water (SEW); Bala Gnanam, BOMA Canada; Jonathan Booe, North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB); and David Wollman, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The speakers educated attendees about new utility-provided Green Button Connect My Data implementations; new energy data-enabled solutions and services; and several use-cases in addition to residential energy management including: facilities energy management and building benchmarking; dynamic EV charging load management; demand-response and incentive programs; ESG/carbon tracking; energy data-enabled hybrid heating; solar installer network scaling; clean energy and DER integration, and more.
Minister Smith joined GBA Chair Syed Mir in presenting the GBA’s Chairman’s Award for "Green Button -enabled Innovation" to Logical Buildings' CEO, Jeff Hendler, in recognition of the company's GridRewards app that informs users when and how to manage energy usage - enabling them to lower their electricity costs, earn cash payments, and reduce their carbon footprints year-around.
 
The Green Button Meet-up featured GBA members' Green Button solutions including: Logical Buildings' GridRewardsUtilismart's Ontario Green Button Toolset powered by UtilityAPIERTH Power Corporation's ERTH GB Connector developed in partnership with Savage Data Systems and NorthStar UtilitiesEnbridge Gas highlighted an advanced residential hybrid heating system pilot leverging Green Button data provided by London Hydro; London Hydro and JOMAR featured an LDC enterprise solution consisting of the LH Green Button and Customer Connect Portal services integrated with JOMAR's CIS/MDM and Settlement Utility Suite; and Big Data Energy Services highlighted its digital asset management services, advanced and secure data exchange capabilities and Unified Platform. The GBA's AGM was well-attended with great cross-industry participation. The GBA thanks the board members, member companies, meeting contributors and all who attended in-person and online. If you missed the AGM, a recording will be available on the GBA's website.
ERTH Corporation’s ERTH GB Connector Powered by Savage Data Systems to Provide More Than 600,000 Energy Consumers with Green Button Data Access
On 05 December, Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith, GBA member company ERTH Corporation, and representatives from several utility partners, gathered to launch the Green Button solution that will provide more than 600,000 consumers across Ontario with access to their Green Button data. The ERTH GB Connector Powered by Savage Data Systems manages the requirements of the Green Button standard, while working with NorthStar Utilities Solutions and SilverBlaze to connect the customer and billing data that is required.
In partnership with Savage Data Systems and NorthStar Utilities Solutions, ERTH is implementing the ERTH GB Connector solution for 24 Ontario-based Local Distribution Companies (LDCs). Several representatives from the LDCs attended the joint Green Button solution launch, demonstrating the collaborative effort and shared commitment to the Green Button initiative. The GBA congratulates member companies ERTH Corporation, Savage Data Systems and SilverBlaze, and the LDCs, on the launch of the ERTH GB Connector! Follow ERTH Corporation on Twitter and LinkedIn.
ENWIN Utilities Launches Green Button Solution to Help Customers Manage Energy Usage & Costs
On 05 December, ENWIN Utilities Ltd. was joined by Ontario’s Minister of Energy Todd Smith and local officials to announce the launch of ENWIN’s Green Button solution.
“This is truly a monumental day for ENWIN Utilities as we are introducing a solution that can help over 90,000 customers better track their energy usage, and help them save on utility costs,” said Helga Reidel, President and CEO, ENWIN Utilities. Customers can utilize ENWIN’s Green Button solution by registering at my.ENWIN.com. The GBA congratulates ENWIN on the launch of its Green Button solution!
Consumers Energy’s Green Button Connect Implementation Certified as Compliant to the NAESB’s REQ.21 ESPI Standard, Version 3.3
Michigan Utility Set to Provide Customers with Standards-based Data Access and Secure Data-Sharing with Authorized Third-Party Solution Providers
On 09 September, the Green Button Alliance tested and certified Michigan-based utility Consumers Energy’s Data Sharing Center, a Green Button Connect energy data access and sharing implementation, as compliant to the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) REQ.21 Energy Service Provider Interface (ESPI) standard, version 3.3, commonly known as the Green Button standard with Retail Customer (RC) components. The Retail Customer schema of the standard ensures the secure sharing of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), a streamlined customer authorization process, and includes the latest security updates. Consumers Energy’s newly Certified Green Button Connect implementation was developed, and is powered, by GBA member company UtilityAPI.
Consumers Energy’s Data Sharing Center removes data access barriers and enables customers to easily and securely opt-in to access and share their utility data, including billing history and smart meter intervals, with authorized parties – simplifying energy management, supporting energy efficiency, and speeding clean energy projects such as adding solar, EV or energy storage. Third-party solution providers can now easily register on Consumers Energy’s Data Sharing Center to request authorization from customers. Follow UtilityAPI on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Smart Energy Water (SEW), with its industry-leading cloud platforms, aims to deliver the best Digital Customer Experiences and Mobile Workforce Experiences, powered by AI, ML and IoT Analytics to global Energy, Water and Gas providers. Learn about SEW’s Green Button Accelerator which is combined with SEW's Smart Customer Mobile (SCM®) and its embedded AI-powered usage analytics, in the SEW Member Spotlight feature
In the Headlines | 
Green Button Alliance Meetings | 
GBA’s Upcoming Meetings
  • The GBA’s next All-Member Call will be held today via dial-in and web: Tuesday, 14 February at 11:00am PST / 2:00pm EST. All GBA Members are invited to attend. Participation logistics will be emailed to GBA Members.
  • The GBA hosts the OpenADE Task Force technical meetings—open to members and non-members. The next one-hour OpenADE Task Force meeting will be held today Tuesday, 14 February at 12:00pm PST / 3:00pm EST. Visit https://openade.org for logistics.
For a full listing of GBA meetings and events, please visit GBA's Calendar page or subscribe to the GBA's public calendar.
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