Newsletter | February 2024

To assist U.S. states and territories in planning and applying for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Home Energy Rebates (HER) Programs, including the Home Efficiency Rebates Program (Section 50121), the U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) in January 2024 put-forth additional guidance following the initial program guidelines released in July 2023.

The Home Efficiency Rebates Program (Section 50121) authorizes $4.3 billion in formula grants to State Energy Offices to reduce the upfront cost of whole-home energy efficiency upgrades in single-family and multi-family homes. For Section 50121 programs, energy consumption data is required to be used to calculate energy savings and the associated rebate. To implement the Home Efficiency Rebates program, State Energy Offices will need to plan programs to access, protect and use utility data.

U.S. DOE provided Utility Data Access Guidelines in July 2023 to serve as a framework for States, utilities, third-parties, and stakeholders in the residential electric and natural gas energy sectors to ensure safe, efficient, and transparent data-sharing practices for program implementers. States should reference the Utility Data Access Guidelines to develop and submit their own Data Access Plan that contains information on safety and security protocols and consumer consent processes.

For States developing Data Access Plans, U.S. DOE recommends looking to established energy data-access and -sharing processes including the industry's Green Button Connect My Data® Standard (for single-family and master-metered multi-family dwellings) and the U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® (for individually-metered multi-family dwellings) as options.

The U.S. DOE provided additional documents, and clarifications to existing documents, including to the Program Requirements & Application Instructions and Data and Tools Requirements Guide, in October 2023.

In January 2024, the U.S. DOE made available a Data Access Plan Introduction to assist States in understanding the Utility Data Access Guidelines, Data Access Plan requirements, and pathways for customer consent. U.S. DOE also provided Data Access Pathways Background and Plan Templates which contain information regarding various options for data access paths States can select for both single- and multi-family customers based on the State’s existing infrastructure. The Plan Templates provide templates for States to use in developing their Data Access Plans.

For more complete information, see Home Energy Rebates Application Guidance. Applications must be submitted through the U.S. DOE's Performance and Accountability for Grants in Energy (PAGE) system and are due by January 31, 2025.

Three U.S. Government Agencies Encourage Utilities to Make Whole-Building Utility Data Available

On January 25, 2024, the U.S. DOE, U.S. EPA and U.S. HUD announced they have signed a joint letter asking Utilities and State Commission Representatives to make energy and water usage data available for multi-family properties. See the letter in which the agencies strongly encourage utilities to ensure the Federal Government’s efficiency investments achieve maximum results and that building owners and residents benefit by the utilities making whole-building utility data available.

To track further updates on these and other Data Access Initiatives as they progress, see the GBA’s Data Access Initiatives pages. 

The Green Button Alliance’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on December 7, 2023. The AGM featured speakers and data access experts; highlighted GBA accomplishments and significant Green Button market milestones; and provided up-to-the-minute insights on the path forward for unlocking broadscale energy data access. 

Energy industry thought-leaders including Usman Syed, Ontario Ministry of Energy; Christopher J. Irwin, U.S. Department of Energy; Syed Mir, London Hydro; Daniel Roesler, UtilityAPI; Bob Champagne, Smart Energy Water (SEW); John Anderson, OhmConnect; and Jeremy J. Roberts, Green Button Alliance, expertly discussed policy, market and solution drivers that are removing barriers and enabling utilities and their customers with the ability to leverage standards-based, secure energy data-access and -sharing, and that are opening markets for a host of new apps and services including demand response, VPPs, solar, EVs and more.

During the AGM, the Green Button Alliance also welcomed its 2024 Board of Directors, and recognized current board member Jay Lewis, CEO of Big Data Energy Services (BDES) with the GBA’s annual Chairman’s Award for his on-going contributions to the board.

The GBA also provided a first look at the Green Button Directory Services, a searchable directory of utilities, third-party apps and services, and platform vendors with Green Button solutions. If you missed the GBA's Annual General Meeting meeting, see the recording here. 

New Green Button Directory Services℠

Get Your Utility or Solution Included!

As a resource for the market, the GBA is currently developing Green Button Directory Services - a comprehensive, searchable directory of all Utilities; Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs); Municipalities; Third-Party Apps or Services Providers, and Platform Vendors that offer platforms or solutions that leverage the industry's Green Button secure, energy and water data-access and -sharing protocol. The upcoming Green Button Directory will enable users to easily locate solutions that utilize Green Button -standardized utility data.

Utilities, energy management and clean energy solution providers, or platform vendors that are interested in being listed in the Green Button Directory can send a request to https://www.greenbuttonalliance.org/contact-us

to receive simple instructions for listing their company and solutions.

Rodan Energy Now Available on Green Button Connect My Data Platform

GBA member Rodan Energy recently announced its solution availability on utility London Hydro’s Green Button Connect My Data platform. London Hydro’s Green Button platform offers an app marketplace that enables its customers to choose to authorize a direct, secure transfer of their data to help its customers interpret and manage energy usage. Once authorized by a customer, Rodan Energy can efficiently capture data that helps manage demand response programs for large energy users.

Fanshawe College was the first to provide Rodan with permission to access meter data for the college's facilities via the utility's Green Button platform, enabling Rodan to provide Fanshawe College with daily electricity demand information. Read the full announcement. 

BDES' Advanced Energy Management Service Now Available on Utility-provided Green Button Connect My Data Platforms

Houston, Texas-based GBA member Big Data Energy Services (BDES) recently announced its advanced energy management service is now available in Ontario, Canada on utility London Hydro’s Green Button Connect My Data platform's app marketplace. BDES is also on-boarding onto additional utility-provided Connect My Data platforms in Ontario and in the U.S.

BDES’ energy management service on Connect My Data secure data-access and -sharing platforms enables large commercial energy customers to directly access their Green Button –standardized energy data; make timely, informed energy usage decisions; better determine rate plans or other options for further driving energy efficiencies to save on costs, as well as streamline consumption reporting. Read BDES’ full post. 

DISTRIBUTECH International 2024 will be held February 26-29 in Orlando, Florida. Green Button Alliance member companies will be attending; exhibiting; speaking, and hosting co-located events. If you're attending DISTRIBUTECH, meet GBA member companies at the following activities. Interested in meeting with the GBA at DISTRIBUTECH? Schedule a meeting below:

Have questions for the GBA? Schedule a meeting with the GBA at DISTRIBUTECH.

GBA All-Member Meeting

The GBA's All-Member Meetings take on a new meeting day in 2024. All-Member Meetings will be held every 6 weeks on Thursdays, from 2:00 - 2:50pm ET / 11:00 - 11:50am PT. The next GBA All-Member Meeting will be held Thursday, March 21 at 2:00pm ET / 11am PT.

See the 2024 All-Member meeting dates, Zoom link and download the meeting calendar here.

OpenADE Task Force Meeting

The Green Button Alliance hosts the OpenADE Task Force technical committee meeting, which is open to the industry for participation. The next OpenADE Task Force meeting will be held Wednesday, March 13 at 3:00pm ET / 12:00 noon PT. See https://openade.org for logistics.

For a full listing of GBA meetings, please see GBA's Meetings and Events page.