Statement from Mission:data Coalition on FERC’s Order Denying CPower’s Complaint (EL-23-104-000)
September 19, 2024 – Mission:data Coalition, a nonprofit advocate for energy data portability, provides the following reaction to today’s FERC order denying CPower’s complaint. CPower alleged that PJM Interconnection’s (“PJM”) tariff is unduly discriminatory because it requires Curtailment Service Providers (“CSPs”) to provide interval usage data for all customers with advanced meters, but utilities often deny CSPs access to this information.
“Today’s order marks the beginning of the ‘Data Barriers’ era,” said Michael Murray, Mission:data’s co-founder and president. “Statistical sampling and submeters are poor substitutes for utility meter data. The time has come to force utilities to put customers in charge of their own information, rather than pursue workarounds.
“Access to customer data such as interval usage, peak load contribution, and other information is absolutely essential to fair competition in wholesale markets. Unfortunately, utilities rarely provide this information in a modern, simple, electronic way.
“According to our Green Button Explorer tool, no distribution utility in PJM’s footprint today provides 100% of the information required by PJM in order for behind-the-meter resources to participate. This includes 60-minute usage data, account number, peak load contribution, transmission zone, line losses, customer name and customer address. If the CSP’s information does not match the utility’s records, the customer can be rejected from an aggregation. So it is essential that utilities provide this information in a modern, electronic form to all customer-authorized entities, including CSPs.
“We hear from entrepreneurs around the country of the continuous problems they experience in accessing information from many utilities: incorrect records, unscheduled outages, excessively prolonged onboarding, and poor support. Whether due to utility incompetence or malfeasance, there is little doubt in our mind that instances of inaccessible data have a significant and deletious effect on wholesale markets.
“The Commission found that there was insufficient evidence presented to be deemed undue discrimination. While we are disappointed with the outcome, there will be numerous complaints of this type filed in the future. We are confident that a fuller picture will emerge in the future and FERC, as well as Relevant Retail Electric Regulatory Authorities (“RRERAs”), will will be called upon to intervene on similar issues across the country.”