Last week the Biden Administration announced a tectonic rule that would, when finalized, mandate data portability across the entire banking system.
The question we’ve been asking is: Will Biden’s Department of Energy do the same for electricity and natural gas utilities?
Last month, we presented to the DER Task Force about data accessibility, Smart Meters v2.0 and anti-trust issues involving utilities. The first question from the audience was about who owns energy data: You or the utility? We’ve been pondering this question ever since. Recently, we happened upon some remarkable insights about ownership from an unusual place: the 99% Invisible podcast by Roman Mars.
This is part of a series of interviews with the leaders of innovative companies in the energy sector. We’ll post more interviews on our website as they become available.
David Energy is a retail electricity supplier, but you also help your small and medium business (SMB) clients manage their energy use with efficiency projects and data analytics. Why don't traditional retail suppliers couple energy management with their supply product? Is that a market failure?
James McGinniss: It's more that the energy industry can be slow to respond to the reality that our energy grid is quite different today than, say, ten or fifteen years ago. For example, the kind of real-time data that makes SMB products viable simply hasn’t been possible until recently, while many retail suppliers come from more of an “energy-as-commodity” background, where the business model – more volume equals more margin – really disincentivizes retailers from encouraging efficiency. David Energy’s “Shared Savings” suite of products, on the other hand, allows the customer to optimize their energy management in an all-in-one manner, from retail-level demand response to wholesale capacity tag and demand charge management; David Energy then takes a cut of any savings. This approach makes sure our incentives are aligned with customers’.
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SAN FRANCISCO — On October 23, 2020, the California Public Utilities Commission issued a scoping ruling in docket A.18-11-015 that will indefinitely postpone the ability of distributed energy resources (DERs) to benefit from data-sharing improvements made across the state’s investor-owned utilities.
“We’re extremely disappointed in this short-sighted decision,” said Michael Murray, co-founder and president of Mission:data Coalition. “After more than ten years and $5 billion spent on advanced metering, customers in California still do not have access to modern, streamlined methods for sharing all of their energy information with cost-effective DERs. This docket was a long-delayed venue to make things right, but the Commission thwarted even this attempt without explanation.”
After being frustrated by public utility commissions delaying rulings, for years and years, on how customers can control their energy data, despite approving billions of dollars of rate increases to cover the costs of advanced metering, we propose a “pledge” for utility regulators. Will you sign it?
The coronavirus pandemic is having unpredented impacts on society, and the power grid is no exception. Various reports are coming out almost every day about energy usage trends, whether from trade journals, grid operators or #energyTwitter. As most businesses remained closed and governors across the country have continued stay-at-home orders, an overarching trend is becoming clear: the pandemic is causing electricity demand to fall.
But grid-scale statistics don’t reveal the uneven distribution of impacts on different classes of customers. For example, commercial and industrial (C&I) load has dropped significantly, while residential load has increased. Fortunately, many Mission:data members have analyzed customer-specific trends, and we highlight their findings below.
Mission:data Coalition and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein submitted a first-of-its-kind draft rule to the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) on data privacy and data portability. The rule, developed over the past six months between Mission:data Coalition and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), would require electric utilities to adhere to one of the best data privacy regimes in the country while simultaneously requiring state-of-the-art data portability so that utility consumers can access new energy-saving products and services that help reduce monthly utility bills.
Last week, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) issued an important order setting the conditions for data-driven distributed energy resources (DERs) providers to access customer energy data held by utilities. Our first reaction to the order was: “Fortuitous timing.” We had just published a white paper about “Nth” parties, referring to the use of contractors in digital supply chains that access or process energy data on behalf of DER providers.
The PSC’s order has many important findings that resolve outstanding cybersecurity issues that had created serious uncertainty for DER providers operating in the state.
Last month, we held our first webinar in a series about energy data. We discussed how “data access” is leading to new offerings for customers -- such as customized energy efficiency recommendations and “gamified” demand response tools -- with two CEOs of leading technology companies, and how “digital accountability” is important if customers are to take advantage of third party energy management software that use their energy data.
On April 2nd, 2019, our second webinar asked: What if customer energy data were in a centralized repository, unifying different formats and types of information across utilities? How could that information be used for policy and planning, or to animate the market for distributed energy resources?
Click image to see the slides
Watch the recording here:
https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/4073996643025034252
Last month, New Hampshire became the latest state to consider a state-wide energy data-sharing portal for the purposes of promoting distributed energy resources (DERs).
No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke.
Consumers’ access to their own energy usage data – a policy adopted with support from consumer advocacy groups, industry and environmentalists -- is expanding energy savings and options for consumers. New offerings include “pay for performance” programs and residential demand response in which web-based tools can help consumers save (or earn) money. But the success of these offerings depends upon the utility’s information technology systems performing at a high level – both back-end functions (e.g. reliable data delivery) and front-end functions (e.g. user experience). Performance metrics and user experience guidelines are important tools for regulators to ensure that utilities meet modern consumers’ digital expectations.
On February 14, 2019, Mission:data hosted a webinar with the following panelists:
Michael Murray, President, Mission:data Coalition
Matt Duesterberg, Chief Executive Officer, OhmConnect
Lisa Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Home Energy Analytics
Moderator: Dan Delurey
View webinar slides here
Watch the webinar recording here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5716893513078528770
Since the electric utility industry’s inception over a century ago, utilities have acted in -- or meddled with, depending upon your point of view -- markets adjacent to the traditional power business. Anti-trust enforcement is an often-ignored tool in the toolbox that deserves reexamination for at least three reasons.
