Newsletter | July 2023

July 7, 2023

in Newsletters,

News & Updates |

E-Access Act Introduced to Help Consumers Access and Share their Utility Data with Third Parties; Facilitate Clean Energy Transition

Several U.S. states have energy data-access policies in place or are currently in process of developing such legislation and guidelines. Federally, on 13 June, Senators Peter Welch (VT) and Chris Van Hollen (MD) introduced the E-Access Act: legislation that will help consumers access their energy and natural gas data, will allow for the development and adoption of innovative products and services to manage their energy usage, and supports a competitive environment for digital energy-management tools.

Provisions of the E-Access Act were included in the Inflation Reduction Act through the HOPE for HOMES program but enforcement guidelines weren't specified. The E-Access Act, if passed, would have the U.S. Department of Energy establish utility data-sharing guidelines and require states to create their own rules based on the federal guidelines. The data-sharing rules would allow consumers to access and share their utility data with third parties, including energy-efficiency contractors.

Guidelines called for in the E-Access Act include specifying that electric and gas utilities shall provide certification of adherence to the latest Green Button Connect My Data^® standard on a periodic interval, that Green Button Connect My Data system availability exceeds 99%, and that electric-meter app stores shall have terms that are fair and non-discriminatory to any user, among other guidelines.

GBA Marks ‘Green Button Certified’ Milestone with Over 75 Implementations Certified as Compliant to the Green Button Connect My Data and Download My Data Open Data Standards

The GBA recently announced it has tested and Certified over 75 Green Button® implementations as compliant to the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) Retail Energy Quadrant, Book 21 (REQ.21) Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) standard, commonly known as the Green Button standard.

The Green Button Certified™ implementations support regulators’ grid modernization efforts; utilities’ digital-transformation strategies; meet customer demands for digital access to utility data, and mark the broadening availability of energy-data access and exchange implementations that are Certified to include the numerous key benefits [pdf] of the Green Button standard including ensuring customer data privacy and seamless data interoperability and scalability of solutions.

The 75 Green Button Certified implementations include Green Button Connect My Data® (CMD) data-exchange platforms and Download My Data® (DMD) energy-data-access solutions provided by investor-owned utilities (IOUs), community choice aggregators (CCAs), municipalities, and other solution providers in the U.S. and Canada. The Green Button Certified implementations enable utilities to provide their customers with new standards-based, open data-enabled platforms, apps, and services that allow customers to authorize to share their data with third-party providers of their choice or to select-and-download their standardized utility data for use in apps or uploading to services of their choice.

Green Button implementations enable utility customers to manage their energy consumption, reduce costs, and take advantage of a multitude of new utility-provided, Green Button data-enabled services that support energy efficiency and decarbonization goals.

Read the announcement or learn more about the GBA's Testing and Certification program.

Tech Corner |

GBA Now Offers New Technical Education and Pre-Certification Testing Services

New Pre-Certification Services Cost-Effectively Support and Speed 'Green Button Certified' Utility Solutions to Market

The GBA offers the industry’s only Green Button Connect My Data® (CMD) and Green Button Download My Data® (DMD) Testing and Certification program for data custodians including utilities (electricity, natural gas, and water); community choice aggregators (CCAs); municipalities; and vendors to utilities.

In addition to the GBA’s existing Green Button CMD, DMD, and Combination CMD+DMD Certification testing services that can be viewed and purchased online, the GBA also now offers new Technical Education and Pre-Certification Testing services to assist utilities, and vendors to utilities, in developing and readying Green Button standards-compliant solutions prior to submitting the solutions for Green Button Certification testing.

The new Pre-Certification Testing services are available to those companies who have already purchased a Green Button Certification Testing session and provide a streamlined and cost-effective path to assist developers in preparing standards-compliant platforms aimed at successfully passing the Green Button Certification Testing session on the first attempt.

Learn more about GBA's Green Button Technical Education, Pre-Certification, and Certification services.

Member Spotlight |

Rodan Energy Solutions is a leading North American DER Aggregator, provider of Demand Response services, Energy Intelligence Solutions, Metering, Telemetry & SCADA, and Power Systems Engineering. Serving commercial and industrial energy users as well as power distribution and generation companies - we believe in a clean energy future and are committed to "Making Sustainable, Attainable."

Rodan Energy has been a member of the Green Button Alliance since 2021 and launched its first Green Button third-party application in 2023 in the United States.

The Value of Green Button

Supports data democratization through sharing of energy use data with third-parties and developers through a standardized format.
Fosters greater energy usage awareness and innovation among application developers, irrespective of their location and with a greater focus on harvesting data value than the means to acquire it.
For Rodan customers, Green Button data is an enabler of valuable services and applications that require Settlement data such as Demand Response programs.
Green Button data access can be easily enabled (and disabled) on-line, without the necessity of signing and exchanging authorization documents - resulting in a faster and less onerous "time to benefit".
Green Button allows Third-Party Application Providers such as Rodan Energy to focus more on energy intelligence or other value-add services and technology for its Customers vs. data acquisition development or manual tasks of requesting or downloading meter data.
For customers participating in Demand Response programs, the Green Button initiative will now enable Utility data to be accessed quickly and securely, while protecting customer privacy.

Rodan Energy Solutions plans to roll-out its Green Button application in the Ontario IESO market in 2023. Follow Rodan Energy Solutions on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

In the Headlines |

23 June: "SEW Unveils New Las Vegas Headquarters," Smart Energy Water blog post.
14 June: "Welch Introduces E-Access Act," WCAX News.
06 June: "New York Residents Can Now Unlock Energy Savings, Improve Electric Grid Reliability with SmartThings," Logical Buildings press release.
01 June: "OhmConnect Launches Annual MEGA Summer Campaign to Reward California, New York, and Texas Residents While Saving Energy," OhmConnect press release.
25 May: "Ontario Launches Peak Perks and Expanded Energy-Efficiency Programs," Ontario government press release.
24 May: "How to Get Paid to Cut Energy Use During the Hottest Summer Days," Habitat Magazine. Logical Buildings' GridRewards featured.
05 May: "The State of 24/7 Carbon-free Energy: Recent Progress and What to Watch," World Resources Institute article. ENGIE, Cleartrace included.
02 May: "Ontario Expanding Clean Home Heating Initiative to Barrie," Ontario government announcement, Enbridge referenced.
25 April: "SunPower and OhmConnect Launch Virtual Power Plant to Help Make Homes Grid-Friendly," SunPower and OhmConnect press release.
22 April: "Save Money - Use Oakville Hydro's Green Button," Oakville News.
21 April: "Oakville Hydro Launches Program that could Save Families and Businesses Money," InsideHalton.com. Green Button implementation.
18 April: "SEW Completes Acquisition of CHOICE Technologies to Drive Revenue Protection for Utilities," Smart Energy Water press release.
28 March: "L ogical Buildings Launches $110M Virtual Power Plant Project Facility to Decarbonize MultiFamily Buildings with Smart Energy Technologies," Logical Buildings press release.

GBA’s Upcoming Meetings |

The GBA’s next All-Member Call will be held online on Tuesday, 11 July at 2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT. All GBA Members are invited to attend. Participation logistics will be emailed to GBA Members.

The GBA hosts the OpenADE Task Force technical meetings which are open to members and non-members. The next OpenADE Task Force meeting will be held online, directly following the All-Member call on Tuesday, 11 July at 3:00pm EDT / 12:00 noon PDT. See https://openade.org for logistics.

For a full listing of GBA meetings and events, please see GBA’s Calendar page.

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