A Consumer Smart Grid Begins With Information
October 18, 2010
As intriguing as the Smart Grid sounds to consumers, relatively few can envision how it might affect their daily lives. This understanding gap is breeding skepticism that risks limiting the Smart Grid’s success – and resulting national energy savings – before it even gets started. To bridge this gap, we need to help customers understand the economic value and convenience of energy management that will result when they have access to their own energy usage information.
A simple yet powerful parallel can be found with online banking. A staggering 72.5 million U.S. households use online banking. According to e-commerce information service Fiserv, 76% of all U.S. households that use the Internet have gravitated toward the ease, efficiency, and security of online financial transactions. Imagine if those same 72.5 million households used the same web-enabled tools to securely understand and manage their energy use. From a computer or their smartphone, they could quickly adjust thermostats, lights or appliances as easily and securely as they send an electronic bill payment. Automated systems could manage daily household energy use just as easily as they help people pay their bills on time. This comprehensive vision is the “Consumer Smart Grid.”
Consumers must also be guaranteed access to their own energy usage information. Without a clear understanding of their energy usage patterns, it is impossible to know which habits are costly or how to adjust energy use in real-time to save energy. Currently, it is most often the case that with the introduction of advanced meter technology, energy providers are reaping the benefits, while the end consumer is not. Utility regulators are becoming increasingly insistent that consumers and utilities realize the benefits of the new technology at the same time.
As of today, public utility commissions of several states – notably, California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania – have specifically granted consumers the right to access their energy usage information directly. And perhaps equally as important, they have established the consumer’s right to share that data with partners that can securely turn the raw digits into meaningful, accessible, and actionable information.
To extend this concept nationally, Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado have introduced the “Electronic Consumer Right to Know Act”, also known as the “e-Know Act”. The legislation gives consumers the right to access their own energy usage information and the rates associated with that usage. It also allows consumers to share their information with trusted partners of their choosing. Forward-thinking legislation of this sort is a critical step toward creating greater consumer engagement and fostering Smart Grid innovations.
We recently authored a white paper titled, “A Vision for the Consumer Smart Grid,” that expands on this topic from a policy and regulatory strategy standpoint. It offers our perspective earned from ongoing participation in policy discussions at the national level, from the implications of federal legislation to state regulatory decisions to consumer protection issues. I invite you to have a look and welcome any thoughts you may wish to share.
By engaging and better communicating with consumers and securing their access to energy usage information, we will enable an innovation economy and unleash a wave of entrepreneurship in the energy industry every bit as powerful and transformative as the information and communication economy over the past 20 years.