Initial results show widely varying terms and conditions across the province, with some utilities ignoring the Ontario Energy Board’s standards.
Monday, June 3rd, 2024 - Today, Mission:data announced its first Green Button Scorecard™ release covering the terms and conditions of data portability for 15 utilities in Ontario, Canada.
Data recipients are forced to agree to the utilities’ terms and conditions in order to be granted access to customer’s energy usage, billing and account information. The terms and conditions have been disputed since O. Reg. 633/21 took effect November 1, 2023, which required local distribution utilities to offer Green Button Connect My Data (GBCMD). Energy management firms and Mission:data have noted that, because utilities’ terms are not individually approved by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), monopoly utilities can use their power to demand one-sided contracts with unfair or anti-competitive provisions.
Findings include:
With a 1-to-5 scale (1=lowest, 5=highest), scores ranged from 2.1 (Bluewater Power Distribution) to 3.5 (Alectra Utilities, non-Guelph region).
Hydro One surpasses other utilities in adhering to two out of three of OEB’s guidelines. But no utility we reviewed fully complied with the OEB’s direction regarding data accuracy, which erodes trust in Ontario’s Green Button program.
Mission:data evaluated 16 other attributes and found that every utility has the right to immediately terminate access to customer information, creating a significant risk of business interruption and abrupt cessation.
10 out of 15 utilities reserved the right to unilaterally modify the terms at any time.
14 out of 15 utilities assert rights to inspect the data recipient’s software systems, network or cybersecurity measures. While intended to prevent privacy violations, this raises the concern that utilities can unfairly acquire information about a competitor’s proprietary software. This concern is highlighted by the fact that some utilities and their vendors are competing in the marketplace with their own energy management tools.
Each item receives a score of 0=fail, 0.5=partial pass, and 1=pass, as shown above
The evaluation questions were created and refined by Mission:data’s staff, given our 10+ years of experience with dozens of GBCMD implementations. The scores are averaged and then put on a 1-to-5 scale. Copies of the terms and conditions we reviewed, and the dates of the review, are available here.
Missing the mark?
15 out of 15 Utilities Fall Short on Data Accuracy Commitment
The accuracy of data provided by GBCMD is important because decisions of significant economic consequence are going to be based in part on the data provided. For example, commercial building owners may decide to invest millions of dollars in energy retrofits based upon anticipated savings on utility bills. If the historical bill information from Green Button does not match the actual bills, then trust is undermined. Another example is building energy reporting and benchmarking, where public facilities – including schools – are required to annually disclose their energy usage. Incorrect information from Green Button could land the reporter in violation of the law. Moreover, the Ontario government specifically called out conservation, energy efficiency, reporting and benchmarking, and economic development as outcomes supported by O. Reg. 633/21.
Ontario utilities have resisted data accuracy requirements. O. Reg. 633/21 Section 3(6) states that an energy provider may terminate access for “significant violations of the terms and conditions,” but the regulation is largely silent on what the terms should or should not include. In 2023, following months-long negotiations with numerous utilities and OEB concerning data accuracy, OEB issued a guidance letter dated September 18, 2023, which concludes:
Consistent with recent discussions at GB IWG meetings, OEB staff expects that the data provided to authorized third parties via Green Button should be the best available data at that time, which means it should have the same accuracy and quality as the data provided to the customer. OEB staff therefore expects distributors to provide this best available data to customers via Download My Data (DMD) and to third parties authorized by customers via Connect My Data (CMD). Further, OEB staff expects that this type of commitment be included in the T&Cs to provide customers and third parties assurance of the distributor’s commitment. (emphasis added)
Unfortunately, 15 out of 15 utilities did not provide this assurance. All utilities we evaluated have provisions that read something like this:
Customer Data is provided “as is” and “as available,” with all faults and without representation or warranty of any kind.
Questions about Adequate OEB Enforcement
With OEB’s guidance concerning data accuracy being largely ignored, it is reasonable to wonder whether OEB is doing enough to ensure trust in the province’s Green Button implementation.
Enbridge, which disclaims data accuracy, acknowledged the existence of a dispute but referred the issue to OEB, implying that OEB had approved of Enbridge’s terms, despite its disclaimer. Enbridge stated that they “responded to this item through an OEB Information Request on Green Button Terms and Conditions. OEB staff responded to this request, considering the matter now closed.” When OEB was asked if they believe Enbridge complies with OEB’s 9/18/23 guidance letter, OEB said they don’t comment on such reviews “to ensure the integrity of our compliance review processes.”
While some utilities’ terms have a straightforward disclaimer, others are more complex, raising the question of whether and how OEB will use its enforcement powers in such cases.
For example, several utilities want to have it both ways: Acknowledging the OEB’s guidance in part while simultaneously disclaiming accuracy. When asked about its accuracy disclaimer, a Hydro One representative stated, “Data is always provided on an ‘as is’ basis, but when an error is discovered, it gets corrected.” But such a statement is non-binding, and Hydro One did not agree to remove the disclaimer from its terms such that it would become legally enforceable.
Other utilities’ terms are self-contradictory. London Hydro’s terms state “The data provided to authorized third-parties via Green Button will be the best data available at the time.” But then the terms go on to say that “use of the Green Button Connect My Data Platform is at Data Recipient’s sole risk and is provided ‘as is’ and ‘as available,’ subject to whatever defects, conditions, impediments or deficiencies which may exist.” When contacted for comment, a London Hydro representative said the guidance “did not state it was prohibited” to include a broad disclaimer for accuracy.
London Hydro’s position – and that of Cooperative Hydro Embrun and Hydro 2000 – appears to be that broadcasting its intentions regarding data accuracy is sufficient so long as it is not liable for failures.
For our part, Mission:data believes that utilities should face some level of liability for failure to provide the “best available” data. If utilities are confident that their data-sharing systems are properly functioning, then a warranty provision poses no threat. Mission:data also believes it is important for utilities to have “skin in the game” as distributed energy resources increasingly depend upon energy usage information from utilities.
About Green Button Scorecard™
As previously announced, the Green Button Scorecard™ is a comprehensive assessment of Green Button Connect My Data (GBCMD) implementations by utilities. The Scorecard is specifically intended to go beyond certification by the Green Button Alliance (GBA). In our experience, GBCMD implementations can suffer from fatal problems, such as difficulty onboarding, poor support and unfair terms and conditions, while still being GBA-certified. The Green Button Scorecard™ is intended as a measurement and continuous improvement tool to facilitate streamlined, customer-friendly data portability across the energy sector.
The evaluation questions were created and refined by Mission:data’s staff. By registering ourselves as a third party with each utility, we experience first-hand what any market participant would: the terms and conditions, the pace of onboarding, the responsiveness to questions, etc. Although today’s release is limited to the terms and conditions, future releases of the Green Button Scorecard™ will include detailed evaluations of onboarding; user experience; timeliness; errors/outages; support; data accuracy; and data completeness.
Note on the scoring process: We make significant efforts to ensure consistency in the evaluation of each item, so that comparisons between utilities are accurate and meaningful. If any utility wishes to make a correction or notify us of material changes to their GBC platform that may change their score, please contact us at greenbutton@missiondata.io. Updates to this website and the Green Button Scorecard™ will be made as more facts and information are obtained and verified.
Why does data accuracy appear twice? Data accuracy appears first as an OEB item, and second in row #5, “No utility disclaimer of data accuracy.” The first reason is that jurisdiction-specific requirements are always added to the baseline evaluation of 16 different questions. This means that applying the Green Button Scorecard™ to U.S. utilities will involve 16 questions but not the three above that are Ontario-specific. Second, we note that the questions are slightly different; “no disclaimer of data accuracy” is distinct from adhering to the entirety of the OEB’s guidance. For these reasons, we felt it was important to include both questions.