Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) launched its first publicly accessible API in March 2015. This offering, Share My Data , is the next generation of PG&E's Green Button Connect My Data. Share My Data is a streamlined, safe way for PG&E customers to authorize third-party companies to access their energy usage information. PG&E customers no longer have to log in to download and share their energy usage files. Instead, once the service is set up and the customer authorizes access, the API does the work for them automatically. The service packages PG&E customer data, informs the authorized third-party businesses when the data is ready and securely sends it out. Share My Data provides the data following the Energy Service Provider Interface (ESPI) standard. For more information on PG&E's implementation, click here.
"We're seeing significant interest in the API, from third-party partners and PG&E customers," said Ryan Halsey, PG&E's Program Manager for the Share My Data API. "We're receiving great feedback from developers, which we're incorporating into our next release planned for the end of this year."
PG&E's planned improvements to the API include: data fields for billing and gas usage, which will add to the existing features on electrical usage; customer account information; service locations and a streamlined registration process. "Location information was one of the most requested features from third parties, so we made sure to include those additional data fields to make the service more useful for non-residential and agricultural customers," said Halsey.
Making detailed energy usage information available in a standardized format encourages awareness of energy use, as well as innovation among third parties for new customer-focused applications. The hope is that energy app developers will imagine and create innovative, inspiring new ways for customers to relate to, manage and ultimately reduce their energy usage. PG&E is committed to making authorized, recurring, machine-to-machine, programmatic data access available to customers and their authorized third-party service providers.
