July 17, 2024 — Biden’s Department of Energy (DOE) is fumbling $1 billion of grants to electric utilities, according to our op-ed published yesterday in the New York Times.
DOE is not requiring data portability as a condition of its grants, which will ultimately total $3 billion. This puts the Energy Department at odds with other agencies that are recognizing the fundamental digital rights of consumers. Health and Human Services has established penalties for “information blocking” if a health care provider denies you the ability to transfer your data at your request, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened a rulemaking on Open Banking.
But DOE won't require data portability of its Smart Grid Grant recipients. This is especially disappointing because the Obama Administration made the same mistake. After pocketing $3 billion in taxpayer money in 2009-2014, utilities deactivated the real-time data-sharing features of 97% of federally-funded smart meters. Worst of all, the first $1 billion of grants that Biden announced last fall would have brought data portability to 36 million new electric customers, according to our estimate, essentially doubling the uptake of Green Button Connect nationwide.
If DOE were to simply require data portability in its grant contracts, the Energy Department would also be doing itself a favor. DOE is also administering $4.3 billion in IRA funding for energy efficiency. These rebates cannot be paid to consumers unless their meter readings are provided. Administering these rebates could be unnecessarily costly without streamlined data portability.
Finally, utilities’ track records warrant greater oversight from Biden’s DOE, not less. In the past, some utilities misled the Energy Department about the availability of data transfer tools in grant reports. Others toll-boothed real-time energy usage data with unregulated affiliates after receiving federal funds. DOE should do the right thing and tell utilities: If you want taxpayer money, put consumers in charge of their data.