Ontario Passes Regulation that Empowers Energy Users with Green Button Energy Data Access & Sharing

October 28, 2021

in Policy Watch,

Ontario Passes Regulation that Empowers Energy Users with Green Button Digital Energy Data Access and Sharing Solutions

In Ontario, Canada, the government has passed Ontario Regulation 633/21: Energy Data, filing the regulation on 02 September. Ontario’s new energy data regulation will go into effect on 01 November 2021 and requires electric and natural gas utilities across the province to implement Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) and Download My Data (DMD) energy data access and sharing solutions that adhere to the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) REQ.21 Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) version 3.3 standard, commonly known as the Green Button, by 01 November 2023. Read the GBA's announcement.

Removing the barriers to energy data access, the Ontario utilities’ Green Button Connect My Data platforms will enable customers to digitally access their standardized energy data and choose to securely share their data with authorized third-parties and applications. Green Button solutions will empower Ontarians with detailed knowledge of their energy-usage patterns and will support energy-efficiency, cost-savings, deployment of clean energy solutions, and decarbonization in the province. Utilites can leverage Green Button CMD solutions to offer a variety of new energy data-enabled applications and services to their customers, as well as increase customer participation in programs such as Demand Response.

To ensure critical benefits of the Green Button standard are gained—including customer-data privacy and seamless data interoperability and scalability—the utility-provided Green Button implementations are required to be tested and certified by the Green Button Alliance as compliant to the standards. The GBA recommends utilities purchase the latest version of the standard from NAESB, prior to solution testing by the GBA. GBA testing and Certification assures utilities:

the standard is implemented correctly;
the solution will provide data in an interoperable format;
the solution will protect customer data privacy through secure transmission of data;
they can speed application on-boarding and deployment of scalable data-sharing implementations.

Ontario’s Green Button regulation will apply to approximately 60 electric and natural gas utilities provincewide. In support the province’s electricity and natural gas sectors, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) led a series of Green Button implementation task force meetings comprised of stakeholders, including members of the GBA, and is developing Green Button implementation guidance based on the task force’s recommendations.

The GBA commends the Ontario government, Ministry of Energy and the OEB for their leadership in unlocking customer energy data and making it secure and transferrable for Ontarians.