Regulation - LGIC
Regulatory Proposal for Province-Wide Implementation of Green Button
Regulation Number(s):
O.Reg 20/17
O.Reg 397/11
O.Reg 397/11
Instrument Type:
Regulation - LGIC
Bill or Act:
Green Energy Act, 2009
Summary of Proposal:
The purpose of the proposed regulation would be to mandate the implementation of Green Button DMD and CMD by electricity and natural gas utilities as the common standard for energy data and protocol for the secure transfer of energy data, upon authorization by the customer, to third parties of the customer's choice.
The province-wide implementation of Green Button would be expected to:
• Support increased conservation and energy efficiency. Greater access to energy data is expected to encourage behavioural changes, such as reducing and shifting energy use, and energy efficiency retrofit improvements. In addition, allowing consumers to authorize the secure transfer of their data to a third party would facilitate the use of software and apps, making it easier for consumers to understand their energy data, and to identify opportunities for conservation and energy efficiency retrofits.
• Support energy reporting and benchmarking by removing barriers and reducing effort/cost for consumers who need access to their data to comply with O.Reg. 20/17 and O.Reg. 397/11, which require large building owners and the broader public sector, respectively, to report annually on the energy consumption of their buildings. Because the energy data would be in a common format, software tools and apps could support the aggregation of data for multiple energy accounts, facilitating building-level reporting for multi-metered properties.
• Increase process efficiencies for consumers and third party service providers to access energy data from electricity and natural gas utilities.
• Reduce utility customer care effort and increase conservation program efficiencies and innovations for electricity and natural gas utilities (e.g. easier access to data to conduct audits and evaluate programs; innovations to existing programs based on increased consumer access to data).
• Create economic development opportunities by fostering the development of innovative and interactive energy management software tools and apps to make the data available to customers in more engaging ways (e.g. gamification of energy data to drive greater customer awareness).
The province-wide implementation of Green Button would be expected to:
• Support increased conservation and energy efficiency. Greater access to energy data is expected to encourage behavioural changes, such as reducing and shifting energy use, and energy efficiency retrofit improvements. In addition, allowing consumers to authorize the secure transfer of their data to a third party would facilitate the use of software and apps, making it easier for consumers to understand their energy data, and to identify opportunities for conservation and energy efficiency retrofits.
• Support energy reporting and benchmarking by removing barriers and reducing effort/cost for consumers who need access to their data to comply with O.Reg. 20/17 and O.Reg. 397/11, which require large building owners and the broader public sector, respectively, to report annually on the energy consumption of their buildings. Because the energy data would be in a common format, software tools and apps could support the aggregation of data for multiple energy accounts, facilitating building-level reporting for multi-metered properties.
• Increase process efficiencies for consumers and third party service providers to access energy data from electricity and natural gas utilities.
• Reduce utility customer care effort and increase conservation program efficiencies and innovations for electricity and natural gas utilities (e.g. easier access to data to conduct audits and evaluate programs; innovations to existing programs based on increased consumer access to data).
• Create economic development opportunities by fostering the development of innovative and interactive energy management software tools and apps to make the data available to customers in more engaging ways (e.g. gamification of energy data to drive greater customer awareness).
Analysis of Regulatory Impact:
N/A
Further Information:
Link to Environmental Registry
Proposal Number:
17-ENE017
Posting Date:
December 1, 2017
Comments Due Date:
January 22, 2018