public power magazine - march/april 2016
TRANSCRIPT
AMERICAN PUBLIC POWER ASSOCIATION •VOLUME 74/NO. 2
PUBLIC POWER
2
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© 2015 GridLiance. All rights reserved.
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pril 2016
26Privacy: N
ewCustom
er ConcernsM
ore devices mean m
ore data. Learn how
to keep custom
ers secure.
8Case Studies
Find out how four public pow
er utilities are w
orking to upgrade the grid.
COLUM
NS
4 Public Power Lines by Sue K
elly
36 Washington Report
37 Going Public
38 Innovation
39 Security
40 Last Word
INQU
IRIES
EDITORIALN
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TS#
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Search for Am
erican Public Power and connect w
ith us
18 E
ngaging Custom
ersH
arnessing everything we know
about custom
ers through new
technology helps us better engage w
ith them.
FEATURES
To learn more, visit sensus.com
/VantagePoint
Air m
onitor. S
ound detector. H
eat tracker. W
ind gauge. Light sensor. E
nergy saver. C
rime fighter.
That also happens to be a streetlight.The S
ensus VantagePoint ™ Lighting S
olution can be all of that and more.
It leverages the Sensus FlexN
et® com
munication netw
ork to enable a
powerful platform
that transforms a passive streetlight into a critical hub
for a host of smart city applications. S
ensus also provides the software
to not only monitor and control lighting, but also give you better insight.
That way you can optim
ize system perform
ance and be more efficient
with your operations. S
o, as you can see, the future is not only bright,
it’s limitless.
Noth
ing’s ou
t of reach.
778842_Sensus.indd 1
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arch-April 2016
Younger
custom
ers
have new
preferences
Engage w
ith
customers
where they are
Define
your privacy
protocols
A
PPA
helps you
prepare for
the future
W
e work to
keep decision-
m
aking local
Look out for new
resources w
e’ll be providing throughout the year, such as the
infographics in this issue. And
as always, if you need anything,
just ask. You can contact us at Info@
PublicPower.org
@CE
OPublicPower • blog.PublicPow
er.org
Do you rem
ember life before your sm
artphone? Now, can you im
agine life without it?H
ow did you check the w
eather this morning? The tim
e? The news? W
here you have to be and w
hen? Your phone has become your electronic com
panion!Your electronic com
panion connects not only to your bank account, wallet, em
ail and cloud files, but also to your fitness tracking device, therm
ostat, washing m
achine and w
ater bottle. Some of you m
ight not quite be there yet, but many of your custom
ers are, or soon w
ill be. Can they connect w
ith you through their electronic companions?
Many public pow
er comm
unities have already done grid modernization projects.
While these projects help in m
eeting your No. 1 goal —
keeping the lights on — they
also open new channels that allow
you to interact with and engage your custom
ers w
here they are. True, you still have customers that w
ant to walk into your offices to pay
their bills or address their issues, and you likely will for som
e time. But younger custom
-ers m
ay not even want to call you. They likely prefer an online chat feature or text alerts.
Retail electric customers on average think about their electric utility just nine m
inutes a year (and that’s likely to be w
hen they pay a bill or have a problem). N
eel Gulhar from
O
Power shared this troubling statistic at APPA’s Public Pow
er Forward Sum
mit in
Novem
ber 2015. But the good news is w
e can improve on this statistic if w
e want to.
Think about how m
any minutes custom
ers spend staring at their electronic compan-
ions! U
tilities throughout the industry are making great strides w
ith customer engagem
ent, providing them
with useful data they can control, and w
ith services they find helpful every day.
That leads us to a pretty big question — Is this safe? U
nprecedented access to data has us all w
ondering just who’s looking at it. But attitudes tow
ard privacy are chang-ing, too. W
e as users are evolving along with the grid, but one thing rem
ains the same:
comm
unicating with your custom
ers is key. Define your privacy protocols clearly and let
your customers set their privacy preferences.
At APPA, we are w
orking to help prepare you for the future — or the now
— by
tailoring our core services through the strategic plan we launched in 2015. Through
Public Power Forw
ard, our future-focused initiative under the strategic plan, we w
ill advocate to ensure that changes im
pacting the industry allow our m
embers to adapt
to evolving customer expectations. W
e will w
ork to allow you and your com
munities
to make these decisions, rather than have federal policym
akers dictate customer choic-
es and services. Is Your Utility Dialed Into
the Electronic Companion?
By Sue K
elly • President & CE
O, Am
erican Public Power A
ssociation
PU
BL
IC P
OW
ER
LIN
ES
a8
66
-47
7-4
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1 l G
PS
INS
IGH
T.CO
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HIC
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& A
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GPS Insight w
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Fle
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ashingtonOverview of challenges facing public power and the skills and knowledge leaders need to guide utilities through change. Ideal for seasoned, new, and aspiring general m
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arch-April 2016
Federal and industry investm
ent in grid modernization has enhanced
customer
service capabilities,
improved
infrastructure and
business operations efficiency, reduced operational costs, and expanded the capabilities of distribution and transm
ission systems. C
ustomers and com
munities have
saved money and energy, im
proved the reliability of electric services, and created m
ore jobs. But at the sam
e time, grid m
odernization presents utilities with num
erous challenges: learning how
to operate new technologies, educating utility
personnel on new business practices, explaining to custom
ers how to use new
technologies, and w
orking with rapidly evolving standards and technologies.
In 2009, the Departm
ent of Energy awarded $8 billion in Sm
art Grid
Investment G
rants to 99 utilities, including 32 public power utilities. The
recipient utilities have used their awards to invest in sm
art-grid technologies, tools, and techniques that have im
proved the performance of electric system
s, provided benefits to custom
ers, and modernized the electric grid.
The grants to public power utilities coupled w
ith public power utilities’
own investm
ents in the smart grid are projected to total $1.8 billion by
completion of all projects initiated under the federal program
.
Story
Four case studies of smart-grid projects led by public pow
er utilities
By Laurel Lundstrom, Contributing W
riter
CA
SE S
TU
DY
Iowa A
ssociation of Municipal U
tilities
The Iowa A
ssociation of Municipal U
tilities works w
ith 136 public power utilities w
ho serve more than 200,000
customers. IA
MU
implem
ented a grid modernization project from
2009 to 2015 with $2.8 m
illion in SGIG
funds and an additional $4.1 m
illion investment. IA
MU
assembled a team
including its executive director and energy services departm
ent to implem
ent the modernization project.
Modernization im
plementation
Six IAM
U m
ember utilities rolled out sm
art therm
ostats to their customers, enabling m
ore intelligent control of air conditioners. Three of the utilities have deployed at least som
e advanced metering
infrastructure, or AM
I. Algona M
unicipal Utilities,
has fully deployed AM
I and is now learning how
to use the data collected. “N
ow, they are really investigating:
How
do we use this huge volum
e of data to improve
our operations, reduce costs, and improve custom
er relations?” said Joel Logan, IA
MU
’s Energy Services
Manager.
Sm
art benefits, new challenges
Smart therm
ostats mean m
ore options for customers,
Logan said. “With the sm
art thermostats, it is really
about being able to have a lot more options of how
to control air conditioners, m
ore than just turning groups of air conditioners and w
ater heaters on or off for a short period of tim
e.”
Initially, there were sm
all problems w
ith the com
munication technology for the sm
art thermom
eters that each utility had to address, but the utilities continue to receive calls regarding operational issues of furnaces and hot w
ater heaters that are largely unrelated to the sm
art thermostats.
“As A
MI is im
plemented and other things that can
enhance customer experience, utilities are m
ore on the hook for w
hat the customer expects of them
,” Logan said.
Intelligent conclusions
“If you are deploying an AM
I system, you are not just
installing an incremental technology,” Logan said. “It
is a completely new
system that has the potential to
change the way a utility operates.” Im
plementation
of that new system
may require m
ore expertise in inform
ation technology, cybersecurity, and new
technologies than initially expected. Utilities should
make sure they do their due diligence w
hen selecting vendors and technologies.
Future plans
“One thing we are trying to do is w
ork with the early
adopters to document how
they are using the systems,
and the benefits,” Logan said. IAM
U is looking into
partnering with researchers at Iow
a State University
to conduct this type of documentation and w
ill consider pursuing research and developm
ent funding from the
Am
erican Public Power A
ssociation.
The project has been shared widely am
ong IAM
U
mem
ber utilities at IAM
U annual conferences.
Public Power’s
10
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CA
SE S
TU
DY
Marblehead M
unicipal Light Departm
ent, Massachusetts
Marblehead M
unicipal Light Departm
ent serves more than 10,000 custom
ers in Marblehead, M
assachusetts. The general m
anager and lead meter technician launched a $2.6 m
illion grid modernization project in 2010. The project w
as supported by $1.3 m
illion in SGIG
funding.
CA
SE S
TU
DY
Ruston, Louisiana
The City of Ruston, Louisiana, serves about 11,000 custom
ers. In 2009, the utility began implem
enting a three-year, $12.9 m
illion grid modernization project. For R
uston, the project meant all hands on deck. The team
included the city’s electric director, engineering staff, inform
ation technology staff, customer service team
and metering group. The project
garnered $8.6 million in SG
IG funding.
Modernization im
plementation
Ruston is hom
e to Louisiana Tech, and is thus a university tow
n where a good num
ber of students move
in and out every quarter. The remote connect and
disconnect feature enabled by the city’s smart-m
eter deploym
ent has been instrumental in curbing costs and
labor related to meter m
anagement and has prevented
meter m
isreads.
“A little over 50 percent [of the service territory] is
rental properties and they all got remote connect and
disconnect meters,” said D
arrell Caraway, the city’s
utility manager.
In addition to rolling out smart m
eters to all customers,
the utility has started to roll out smart w
ater meters,
with 20 percent of custom
ers covered thus far. It has also m
ade upgrades to its distribution system,
specifically replacing old reclosers with new
er technology.
Sm
art benefits, new challenges
The remote connect and disconnect features have
allowed the utility to elim
inate truck rolls for electric m
eter reads, connects, and disconnects. The data the utility is bringing in through the sm
art meters is passed
to customers directly through a w
ebsite, which allow
s them
to monitor and m
anage their usage. But those
meters took som
e fiddling, Caraway said.
“We w
ent through three different generations of chips for the m
eters,” said Caraway, w
ho mentioned the
learning curve associated with new
technologies as the m
ain challenge to Ruston’s sm
art-grid deployment.
“One of the heavy challenges was integrating w
ith our [custom
er information system
], but we w
orked through it.”
Intelligent conclusions
The City of Ruston piloted three sm
art-meter
technologies before deciding which one to use.
“Everyone should do a pilot,” Caraw
ay said. During the
pilot, utilities can identify additional training needs and w
ork through any resistance from personnel. Caraw
ay also recom
mends investing in a public education
campaign.
Future plans
Ruston’s electric departm
ent has kept the city governm
ent regularly informed about the sm
art-grid deploym
ent, and, as result, comm
unity support has been strong. R
olling out smart w
ater meters to all
customers and m
aking more upgrades to distribution
and transmission system
s as technology evolves is up next.
“We w
ill always be looking at em
erging technology,” Caraw
ay said.
Modernization im
plementation
The utility replaced all but a select few m
eters in town
with the GE
SmartM
eter. In the summ
ers of 2011 and 2012, m
ore than 500 customers w
ith smart m
eters participated in the critical peak pricing pilot project, “E
nergySense,” which included them
in time-of-day
pricing. Participating customers received a 35 percent
rate discount during all non-critical peak pricing hours, and a 750 percent increase during critical peak periods. The utility declared three critical peak periods in the sum
mer of 2011 and five in the sum
mer of 2012.
Participants were notified w
ith a phone call that a critical peak period w
ould be in effect the following
day. All participants saved m
oney and can now m
onitor their pow
er usage on a website and receive estim
ated m
onthly costs.
Sm
art benefits, new challenges
“We take advantage of the pow
er and capabilities of having a sm
art grid on a daily basis,” said Colin Colem
an, Marblehead’s m
anager of technical operations. “This includes tracking pow
er outages, m
onitoring transformer loads, and m
onitoring power
usage on a townw
ide scale.”
The utility now autom
atically receives meter data every
15 minutes, as opposed to once a m
onth with the old
meters. A
lso, since the data is sent automatically, the
operational costs have been cut and meter reading is
significantly less labor intensive.
Marblehead receives real-tim
e alerts when a resident,
business or entire section of its system loses pow
er. It can proactively prevent pow
er outages from taking
place by receiving transformer overload alerts and
replacing the overloaded transformer before it fails.
“Sometim
es our line crew is already on the w
ay to fix an active problem
before the customer even know
s an issue exists, thanks to our sm
art-meter m
esh network,”
Coleman said.
As the grand tenet of grid m
odernization goes, getting buy-in ahead of tim
e was key for M
arblehead. Coleman
said it was param
ount, and difficult, to comm
unicate that the sm
art-meter program
would be beneficial to
customers and not detrim
ental in any way.
Intelligent conclusions
It can be beneficial to the customer as w
ell as the utility to stay on top of the latest advances in technology, Colem
an said. Marblehead’s experience
was proof.
Future plans
Inquiries about the smart-m
eter program are handled
on an individual basis. Marblehead m
ight implem
ent another critical peak pricing project to a new
set of custom
ers, Coleman said.
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arch-April 2016
Grid m
odernization can take on many
different forms. In m
any cases, a grid
modernization project m
eans smart
meters, but there are other technologies,
too. And m
uch more than that, said
Arlen Orchard, president and CE
O of the
Sacramento M
unicipal Utility District.
SMU
D rolled out a com
prehensive grid
modernization w
ith $127.5 million
in SGIG
funding for a $308 million
project. The project included advanced
metering infrastructure, sm
art meters,
demand response, custom
er applications,
technology infrastructure and more. It has
reduced SMU
D’s operating costs by m
ore
than $18 million annually and reduced
its in-person response rate by more than
400,000 truck rolls annually.
But the project has also m
eant so much
more —
new challenges, new
benefits, and
so much m
ore data. Read on to learn how
all the moving parts of grid m
odernization
come together.
What is the biggest leadership challenge w
hile your utility is going through a grid m
odernization project? How
do you get buy-in for new ideas/technologies from
staff, board, and custom
ers?The foundational elem
ent of the smart grid is really putting in sm
art meters. A
nd that is som
ething as a foundational element that you really need to do. The biggest challenge
quite frankly is customer buy-in. You’re going to be going on their property and chang-
ing the meter and turning off their pow
er for a short period of time. It’s so im
portant to really m
ake sure you do a lot of customer outreach in advance of that, so they understand
the business case. And w
hen you do that, you need to make it clear w
hy this is in custom-
ers’ best interest. For example, it w
ill lower the cost of the utility’s operations, so it w
ill help keep rates low
and stable. The other benefit directly to customers is it w
ill provide better access for them
to control their energy usage and lower their bills. There’s a lot of
misinform
ation out there about what sm
art meters are and w
hat they do.
Who should lead and participate in large-scale projects?
Because it is som
ething that impacts so m
any business units, you really need to have the leadership right from
the top of the organization. I’ll use SMU
D as an exam
ple. Our chief custom
er officer would be part of that because the project is going to directly im
pact custom
ers and a lot of the benefits will be custom
er benefits. Our grid strategy and operations officer is involved in decisions around sm
art grid because he is trying to ensure that w
e create the vision and ability to forecast and optimize as w
e add more distributed
resources. The third person that needs to be involved is the chief information officer,
because so much of this is technology-driven. The com
plexity of it is much greater than
the technology utilities have used in the past, so having a very skilled CIO is important.
And then the fourth m
ember that is intim
ately involved in this is our chief generation and grid assets officer because it is his people w
ho are actually in the field dealing with these
CA
SE S
TU
DY
Municipal E
lectric Authority of G
eorgia
The Municipal E
lectric Authority of G
eorgia, or ME
AG
Power, w
orks with 49 public pow
er utilities — 48 m
unicipalities and one county utility. For its three-year, $25.5 m
illion grid modernization project in 2010, M
EA
G assem
bled a crosscutting, strategic team
. ME
AG
’s senior vice president, chief operating officer, director of engineering, director of transmission
operations and manager of engineering technical services cam
e to the table. The project was supported by $12.25 m
illion in SG
IG funding.
Modernization im
plementation
ME
AG
Power m
aintains elements of the G
eorgia Integrated Transm
ission System —
about 1,320 m
iles of transmission lines and 188 transm
ission and distribution substations. M
EA
G used its SG
IG to
digitize and enable remote control of m
ultiple elements
of the transmission system
.
“ME
AG
’s smart-grid project w
as a unique SGIG
project,” said D
oug Lego, ME
AG
Power’s director
of transmission operations. “M
EA
G is a w
holesale supplier and our sm
art-grid project focused on the w
holesale delivery point.”
The electric authority deployed six different smart-
grid elements in 133 substations, including high-
voltage, remote-controlled m
otor-operated switches;
advanced metering; rem
ote terminal units; routers;
microprocessor-based relays; and m
icroprocessor-based voltage regulator controllers. The upgrades have enabled the joint action agency to reprogram
equipm
ent in substations, repair mechanical problem
s w
ith breaker relays, regulate voltage with digital
controllers, and correct power factor to m
ake circuits m
ore efficient — w
ith remote m
onitoring from the
agency’s transmission m
onitoring center.
Sm
art benefits, new challenges
The system im
provements provide better equipm
ent functionality and better equipm
ent performance
information, allow
ing ME
AG
to increase reliability and availability of pow
er. The modernized equipm
ent allow
s ME
AG
Pow
er to automatically deliver event
files to its mem
bers and receive and use real-time
data to make quick system
fixes.
The biggest challenge? Working around energized
equipment. The agency couldn’t de-energize
substations in all locations, Lego said.
Intelligent conclusions
An im
portant part of the modernization w
as upgrading the regulator control panels, w
hich enabled custom
ers to correct power factor so that
the circuits become m
ore efficient, Lego said. R
eplacing electromechanical breaker relays w
ith m
icroprocessor-based devices highlighted mechanical
problems that w
ere pre-existing in the distribution feeder breakers.
Over a recent 12-month period, M
EA
G’s operating
reliability metric for its breaker relays hit 100 percent
for the first time since beginning these m
easurements.
The joint action agency previously could incur 8 to 12 faulty breaker m
isoperations in a year, out of approxim
ately 1,200 operations that take place.
Working w
ith customers w
as, again, a key element.
“Our customers w
ere well inform
ed when w
e came
into a substation to do the smart-grid upgrades,” said
Lego. “If our customers could de-energize a portion of
a facility, they would take that elem
ent of risk out of w
orking in an energized facility.”
Future plans
ME
AG
is looking to install microprocessor relays in
additional facilities that were not part of the SG
IG
project.
More Than Just Technology“B
ecause it is som
ething that im
pacts so many
business units, you really need to have the leadership right from
the top of the organization.”
Photo courtesy of SMUD
By Laura D
’Alessandro, Integrated M
edia Editor, A
PPA
14
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15
new technologies. You need to m
ake sure your employees are w
ell trained on w
hat these new technologies are and how
you work
with them
in the field, most im
portantly from a safety standpoint.
So it really is a cross-functional approach.
What happens w
hen the best laid plans go awry?
You hit on what you need to do upfront, w
hich is really making
sure you have a very detailed project plan in place. That includes being m
indful of accurately projecting what the benefits proposal
is so you can turn around and tell your customers they are getting
what you prom
ised. But w
ith every project, regardless of what it
is, whether installing your sm
art meters or building a m
ajor new
power plant there are tim
es when som
ething doesn’t go quite right. First, be transparent w
hen something goes w
rong. If a project is going off the rails, you w
ant the project team to feel
empow
ered to bring that to someone’s attention im
mediately.
Then you adjust; you have contingency plans in place. I know w
e m
ade some changes w
hen we w
ere rolling out our smart m
eters.
You will run into som
e changes, too. We didn’t realize there w
ould be so m
any people who w
ouldn’t give us access to their yards, so you had to com
e up with a strategy to encourage those people. If
you have good project managem
ent practices and procedures in place and you apply those to this situation, it’s no different than any other project.
What should you look for in vendors and partners?
I think it comes dow
n to having a team that is responsible for
being well educated w
ith what’s going on in the industry. First,
look at utilities that have already done a grid modernization
project and talk about their experience with vendors, talk to them
about their lessons learned. You also need to educate yourself on the state of the technology and Distributech* is a good exam
ple. You should definitely send a team
every year to understand what
those emerging technologies are; it’s a good opportunity to have
everyone in the room. You w
ill understand what is ready for prim
e tim
e and what is still in the developm
ent phase. So those are two
of the big things, and then look and determine based on the level
of internal talent whether you need to bring in som
e consultants. That’s going to vary by utility – large utilities m
ay have the inter-nal talent, and sm
aller utilities may w
ant consultants.
*Distributech Conference & E
xpo is an annual event focused on grid m
odernization. Learn more at distributech.com
.
What’s your biggest takeaw
ay for other utility leaders to learn from
?
I think my biggest takeaw
ay is the importance of creating a
foundation to meet the challenges and opportunities of m
oving tow
ard a more distributed future. You need to think about it as
more than just installing technology. It is about changing m
any of your processes going forw
ard. You’re going to have an incredible am
ount of data generated by these smart technologies. A
nd that data is invaluable because it’s going to help you know
and understand your custom
ers better and be the basis for developing m
ore products. There are huge opportunities to improve
78410_
ine
.indd 104/02/1
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operational efficiencies. You need to think about the day two and
day three benefits or opportunities associated with this. There’s a
lot of work to do to optim
ize those. Data governance processes are
necessary to ensure the integral managem
ent of the data.
So in life after grid modernization, w
hat can you do with all
that data?
You roll out some technologies. The first thing you need to do is
put into place a data governance process. We have done that, and
we are m
oving that throughout the company. The second part is
selecting platforms to take advantage of the data, choosing your
third-party partners. SMU
D is a really progressive utility, but w
e are not a tech com
pany. We are not going to develop a softw
are platform
to be able to analyze all this data we’re getting, so w
e’re looking for good partners to do that. W
e partnered with Opow
er and rolled out a tool for all of our residential custom
ers. We’re
using a third party and their platforms, w
hich are relatively easy to stand up.
16
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18 Public Pow
er /March-A
pril 2016
The
Customer
Engagement
Proposal
Engaging custom
ers can be as simple as asking
them how
they use the power you provide. B
ut with
new increasingly netw
orked technology, engaging custom
ers means low
er bills for them and better,
more personalized service from
the utility.
By Housley Carr, Contributing W
riter
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Enhancing engagem
ent and interaction with
residential and small-business custom
ers often begins sim
ply, with the provision of seem
ingly rudim
entary information about how
much ener-
gy a customer is using m
onth to month.
Over tim
e, however, and w
ith the use of existing and em
erging technologies, utilities can expand these initial efforts to draw
customers
into programs enabling them
to become m
ore energy efficient, to shift energy use to off-peak periods, and to gain m
ore control over their energy bills.
“Historically,
only a
small
portion of
customers has been m
otivated to participate in dem
and response” and other programs designed
to manage and optim
ize their energy use, said N
icholas Payton, associate director of product m
arketing and strategy at Opow
er, a software
company that helps utilities im
plement custom
er engagem
ent programs.
Now, though, m
any utilities are seeking to increm
entally engage their residential and small-
business customers —
first through bill inserts, then by providing m
ore detailed energy-use and other data provided at utility W
eb portals and call centers, and after that through efforts to draw
them into dem
and response, or DR, and
other programs that benefit custom
ers and utili-ties alike by optim
izing energy use.“D
R technologies have been advancing, and utilities have been building out their sm
art grids and custom
er engagement platform
s,” Payton said. A
s a result, many m
ore customers are inter-
acting regularly with their utilities, he said, and
“DR has a chance to becom
e much m
ore democ-
ratized”— that is, used by a m
uch broader swath
of utilities’ customer bases.
Payton noted that while dem
and response program
s often
involve equipm
ent, such
as sw
itches to
remotely
cycle air
conditioning system
s on and off during periods of peak system
demand, “behavioral D
R” also has been catching on, and can have a significant effect.
Opow
er has
worked
to help
utilities
implem
ent behavioral
demand
response program
s in which custom
ers receive phone calls, em
ails or text messages notifying them
of
an im
minent
peak-demand
period and
asking them to reduce their energy use during
the period. Custom
ers then receive a follow-up
message after the peak-dem
and period to let them
know how
much they reduced their energy
use, and how their efforts com
pared with those
of other, similar custom
ers.Payton
said that
the behavioral
demand
response programs have reduced peak-period
energy use by about 3 percent, on average. Just as im
portant, he said, the programs “m
otivate custom
ers to form good habits” on reducing
energy use, and “funnel customers into higher
impact program
s” such as home energy audits,
switch-based
demand
response efforts,
and expanded energy efficiency.
Education and em
powerm
entCustom
er engagem
ent really
boils dow
n to
“educating customers and em
powering them
to m
ake informed decisions” about their energy use,
said Monica W
hiting, chief customer officer at JEA,
the public power utility in Jacksonville, Florida.
JEA’s efforts started a few years ago “w
ith som
ething as
simple
as putting
energy consum
ption graphs”
on custom
ers’ bills,
Whiting
said. Since
then, the
utility has
established an increasingly sophisticated online portal w
here customers can track their daily
energy and water use; add tem
perature overlays to better understand how
their energy use rises and falls w
ith the weather; com
plete online hom
e-energy-use assessments; and sign up for a
variety of phone, email and text alerts.
“We’re
also using
social m
edia to
drive custom
ers to our website” and to m
ake them
more aw
are of energy efficiency rebates and other offerings, W
hiting said. All these efforts should
help later this year when JEA rolls out w
hat she said w
ill be “a pretty robust pilot program.” It’s
still under development, but W
hiting said it will
empow
er customers to reduce energy use during
peak periods.W
hile efforts to engage utility customers and
draw them
into higher value energy efficiency and dem
and response programs are also taking
place at utilities across the board, programs
are tailored
to the
characteristics of
their com
munities.
At Consolidated Edison of N
ew York, an
investor-owned
utility serving
more
than three m
illion customers in N
ew York C
ity and neighboring W
estchester County, the effort is
building to bring customers aw
areness around their energy use and m
ake it easier to reduce that
use during peak times.
Unique to C
on Edison’s customer base is a
heavy reliance on single-room air conditioners,
according to Vicki Kuo, Con Edison’s director
of energy
efficiency program
s. C
entral air
conditioning dominates the residential sector in
much of the U
.S. But in Con Edison’s territory,
there are close to 7 million single-room
air conditioners, together accounting for as m
uch as one-fifth of peak sum
mertim
e demand.
As
a result,
the utility
has developed
a program
for
remotely
controlling room
air
conditioners, either cycling them on and off
during peak periods or — on new
er units with
temperature settings —
temporarily raising the
units’ settings.C
on Edison,
working
with
Opow
er, is
also kicking off a demonstration project under
which the utility w
ill be offering 300,000 of its
residential custom
ers free
home
energy
RE
AD
MO
RE
: Increasingly available data is improving utility
relationships with custom
ers and making it easier for custom
er service representatives to address custom
er concerns. See page 22.
reports that provide detailed, customer-specific
information about energy use, Kuo said.
The role of smart therm
ostatsAt
some
utilities, custom
er engagem
ent is
becoming m
ore sophisticated and intense, in part due to the increasing availability and low
er cost of sm
art thermostats.
Some initial efforts for D
uke Energy, an investor-ow
ned utility serving a total of more
than 7.2 million custom
ers in six states in the Southeast and M
idwest, have involved hom
e energy reports that allow
customers to com
pare them
selves to other, similarly sized hom
es.But in D
uke’s Ohio service territory, for
example, custom
ers who choose to participate
in the utility’s HōM
Energy Manager program
receive up to tw
o free wireless, Internet-accessible
thermostats that can be rem
otely controlled from
the customers’ com
puter, tablet or mobile device.
Continued on page 23
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In the Loveland Water &
Power call center, operators have
complete inform
ation at their fingertips when custom
ers call. B
ut it wasn’t alw
ays that way.
Brian K
uhn, a customer service representative for the
35,000-customer public pow
er utility in Colorado, said he’s on the “front line at the service counter.” H
e deals with
utility customers w
ho have questions about their bills or utility service.
“Know
ledge is power,” K
uhn said. “I know that custom
ers w
ho come in w
ith questions leave with real answ
ers, and w
ith more confidence in the utility.”
LWP has w
orked with Opow
er to implem
ent a series of program
s, including Hom
e Energy R
eport and Bill A
dvisor, to inform
its customers about how
they are using energy and to help them
reduce their electric use and bills.
Given that LW
P has not installed smart m
eters, the utility leverages Opow
er’s access to a vast trove of residential energy usage data and the softw
are company’s advanced
predictive algorithms to help determ
ine how energy
customers are using energy.
An especially im
portant benefit of customer engagem
ent efforts —
particularly the provision of more detailed and
specific data on energy use — is an im
proved relationship betw
een a utility and its customers.
That same inform
ation is made available to custom
er service representatives at LW
P’s call center and w
alk-in service center so they can m
ore quickly and helpfully assist custom
ers who have questions about their bills.
Before LW
P and Opower organized and rationalized the
utility’s energy use data, Kuhn said, “w
hen a customer cam
e in and had questions about his or her bill, I’d have to look in three different program
s or databases” to come up w
ith even basic inform
ation. It was a tim
e-consuming process
that often took several minutes.
“I’d have to type in their account information, pull up their
bill, and — if they had questions, for exam
ple, about why
their latest bill was so high —
go to another database to see their past usage” and try to m
ake educated guesses about w
hy weather or another factor m
ight have affected the custom
er’s electric consumption.
“Now
, all of the customer and dem
ographic information is
right there, and I can tell them, ‘Oh, this tim
e the billing cycle w
as 34 days instead of 30, which accounts for part of
the difference, and the average temperature w
as five degrees colder’” than the m
onth before, Kuhn said.
The other side
Jon Little, a longtime Loveland resident and LW
P customer,
has been using the utility’s customer portal to track his
energy use and make plans for future hom
e improvem
ents. H
e said he learned about the portal in a bill insert. The increasing am
ount of information the utility has been m
aking available have helped him
better understand his home’s
energy use and steps he can take to reduce it, he said.
“I think what the portal dem
onstrates is that the utility is out to help the hom
eowner,” Little said. “M
ost businesses don’t help you use less of w
hat they’re selling,” and making
energy use and related information readily available
“builds credibility and trust. It makes them
seem really
comm
unity-oriented.”
The Web portal gives its users an opportunity to correct and
update basic demographic inform
ation about the size of the custom
er’s home, the num
ber of residents and the like, and it tells the custom
er how his or her energy use com
pares with
that of others with a sim
ilar demographic profile.
“I’ve done a lot with lighting,” Little said, replacing
incandescent bulbs with com
pact fluorescent lamps or, m
ore recently, w
ith LED
bulbs. “I can see from the graphs that m
y investm
ents were w
orth it — nine m
onths of the year, I was
among the 20%
most efficient custom
ers.”
He can also see w
here he’s not doing so well.
“I found out that where I’m
less efficient is during June, July and A
ugust. I have an older, less efficient air conditioning system
, and having, seen the information [LW
P] m
akes available, I know
it would m
ake sense for me to replace that
with a m
ore efficient unit. That’s my big plan now
.”
Continued from page 21
HōM
Energy
Manager
participants select
a
level of
participation in
an autom
ated conservation program
that can occur on up to 10 hot sum
mer days each year. W
hen demand
for electricity peaks, Duke sends the sm
art therm
ostats a wireless signal that cycles the
air conditioning systems on and off to reduce
system load.
Technological advances
such as
Internet-accessible therm
ostats are “the game-changers,”
said Sasha
Weintraub,
Duke’s
senior vice
president of customer solutions.
A key question now facing utilities and their
consultants, though,
is w
hether to
provide and install sm
art thermostats them
selves or to encourage custom
ers to BYOT —
bring your own
thermostat.
There is a clear trend now tow
ard BYOT-
based programs, in part because they help to
reduce utility costs, but also because customers
who voluntarily pay for and install their ow
n sm
art thermostats show
a level of awareness
and engagement that suggests a real interest in
energy managem
ent, said Brett Feldman, a senior
research analyst at Navigant.
Feldman said technology is advancing so
fast that the traditional approach of offering one therm
ostat model to custom
ers isn’t sustainable. “Today’s custom
ers want m
ore choice,” he said, noting that about 50,000 custom
ers across the U
.S. are currently participating in BYOT-based
pilot programs and m
ore pilots are being planned.But these program
s have their own challenges,
Feldman said. M
ost importantly, utilities m
ust be able to com
municate effectively w
ith a wide range
of smart therm
ostats — not only the single type
of smart therm
ostat they would be installing in
customers’ hom
es under a non-BYOT program
—
and they must keep up w
ith changes in the
thermostats’ softw
are.U
tility m
anagers, consultants
and others
believe efforts
to enhance
the connection
between utilities and their custom
ers are driven to
a considerable
degree by
the heightened
expectations younger consumers in particular
have in dealing with basic-service providers,
which now
include not only utilities and cable com
panies but
Web-based
companies
like Am
azon, Netflix and U
ber.“U
tilities need to recognize that millennials
are setting the bar” for customer expectations
regarding easy access to information, a w
ide range of choices, and quick resolution of problem
s, said JEA’s
Whiting.
Older
customer
groups “m
ay be m
oving at a slower pace in adopting these
technological tools and expectations,” but they w
ill soon be insisting on the same thing as their
younger counterparts.
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Building Trust
From Hom
e to HubToday, apps rule everything, even the hom
e. All these sm
art technologies can talk to you, talk to each other, and even talk to your utility.
Many sm
art devices for the home have the
capability to link to your other smart system
s, allowing you to use your sm
artphone or tablet as an all-in-one hom
e managem
ent hub.
Ask your public power utility which smart devices
and apps can help you save energy and money.
Smart therm
ostats monitor
energy usage, feature phone-app integration, and intelligently adjust tem
perature settings based on daily habits. And they pay off with energy savings over tim
e.
Smoke/CO alarm
s can alert custom
ers to a fire or to dangerous CO levels even if you’re not at hom
e.
Intelligent cameras com
e with wireless linkages and autom
atic sensors, and other features depending on the brand. Create a hom
e video security system
with minim
al hassle and maxim
um
safety.
Smart locks feature rem
ote locking capabilities to ensure you never worry about forgetting to lock your door again. Pair the sm
art lock with an intelligent video doorbell system
that can screen visitors before unlocking the door.
Smart lightbulbs can be turned
on remotely, and you can m
onitor the energy use of any bulbs plugged into this type of socket. Easily turn off energy-leaching devices with m
inimal hassle.
Apple and Android now offer an in-house app that allows for the seam
less connection of all smart
home devices into a one-stop
hub. Many sm
art products come
with built-in synchronization capabilities for all-in-one apps.
New washing machines and
refrigerators are equipped with w
ater conservation features. Your utility likely offers a rebate or partnership program
. Ask them
for ways to save resources and m
oney on your bill.
Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri
are two of the most known voice-
operated integration services, and both are becom
ing a popular m
eans of easily comm
anding the other sm
art technologies in your hom
e.
24
Public Power /M
arch-April 2016
PublicPow
er.org / #PublicPow
er 25
Share this with your custom
ers. Email us at
[email protected] for a copy
26
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blic P
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Privacy
Is Dead:
Long Live P
rivacyN
ew Custom
er Concerns as the Electric Grid Changes
By Meena Dayak, Vice President, Integrated M
edia and Comm
unications, APPA
28
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About Paula C
armody,
People’s Counsel, State of M
arylandCarm
ody was president of the N
ational Association of State U
tility Consumer A
dvocates from 2011 to 2013.
She is a mem
ber of the U.S. D
epartment of E
nergy Electric A
dvisory Comm
ittee, appointed by Secretary M
oniz. She was recognized as an Influential M
arylander in the Law for her w
ork representing residential utility custom
ers in 2011 and received the NA
SUCA
Irwin Popow
sky “Outstanding Service Aw
ard” in 2013.
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents the interests
of residential customers of electric, gas, telecom
munications, and private w
ater utilities. Created in 1924, it is the oldest consum
er advocacy office of its kind in the U.S. The OPC represents custom
er interests in state and federal regulatory proceedings, provides inform
ation and referrals to consumers, and offers lim
ited consumer assistance.
In Maryland, w
hich is a deregulated state, the OPC represents customers of investor-ow
ned, cooperative, and public power electric
utilities. Most states have an agency sim
ilar to the OPC or a division of the attorney general’s office to represent the interests of utility custom
ers, although public power utility custom
ers are usually not covered, as these utilities are not regulated by the state.
The basic conveniences of m
odern living —
using a smartphone, going to the grocery store,
heading out for a run, riding a bus, visiting the doctor, or connecting w
ith friends and family
— could potentially deprive an individual of all
privacy. It seems like som
eone is tracking every activity, and collecting every possible piece of data.
“I really think that the next generation will not
even understand the value of privacy. Privacy will
be a thing of the past,” one participant in a recent Pew
Research Center study said, according to a
Washington Post article. “W
hen is it worth giving
up your data? Americans aren’t quite sure.” Pew
surveys have found that very few
people feel they have a lot of control over how
data about them is
collected or used. The use of electricity is no exception to
Americans’ distrust of data and anxieties about
loss of privacy. “Individuals have expressed the notion that privacy is dead,” said Paula C
armody,
People’s Counsel for the State of M
aryland. “I fully disagree w
ith that. With the deploym
ent of m
ore than 65 million sm
art meters across the
country, customers increasingly have concerns
about data privacy and security. But that is not the sam
e thing as believing that these issues are unim
portant,” Carm
ody said. “Utilities can
address customer privacy concerns by adopting
and comm
unicating simple protocols.”
Evolving issuesElectric utilities have been very concerned about custom
er privacy issues, and they are challenged by the entry of third parties into the utility services space and by distrust engendered by data breaches in other sectors like retail and credit cards.
“Issues unrelated to the utility sector have raised concerns,” C
armody said. “W
e know w
hat’s happened w
ith breaches on Google and Facebook.
We’ve seen w
hat’s happened with banks and credit
cards. It seems like every tim
e you turn around, there is som
e data breach.”Although it’s been about five years since real-
world privacy concerns over sm
art meters began to
surface, Carm
ody emphasized that these concerns
are not going to go away.
For example, sm
art thermostats w
ere a major
area of distrust for American consum
ers in the re-cent Pew
research study, despite their promise of
reduced energy bills and greater customer control
over energy use. While m
ore than half of thermo-
stats sold in the U.S. by 2017 w
ill be smart, and
consumers are realizing the value, they don’t fully
understand what they’d be giving up if they sign
up for one.Today, custom
ers’ privacy concerns have ex-panded w
ay beyond smart m
eters — to the col-
lection of real-time energy use data, energy m
an-agem
ent tools,
and installation
of distributed
resources such as rooftop solar.
Biggest custom
er concernsC
armody
said electric
utility custom
ers are especially concerned about how
they can control who
accesses their information, how
to ensure they’re not disturbed at hom
e and how
easily hackers might breach the system
. And these issues are interconnected. W
hen, for instance, energy
comm
unication system
s interact
with
appliances in the home to collect granular data,
people resent the digital intrusion into their private space.
“People really feel their home is theirs. They
believe that if they haven’t affirmatively given
consent to certain activities, then no one should be able to access their data,” she said.
Carm
ody pointed to a May 2015 Pew
Research C
enter study on Americans’ view
s about privacy and surveillance in the digital age. The study reported on a survey in w
hich 93 percent of respondents said that it w
as important to have
control over who got their inform
ation. Customers
are equally concerned about lack of privacy around personally identifiable inform
ation — from
Social Security num
bers to contact information —
as w
ell as energy use information.
“My
personal view
is
that individual
information that is collected should rem
ain private and only be used w
ith the customers’ consent,”
Carm
ody said.
A matter of choice
Electricity is an essential service. As a result, custom
ers don’t
have choices
about sharing
information, C
armody said. “It m
ay be difficult but I can still choose to go to a store and pay cash for m
y purchases so they don’t have any idea w
ho I am. I can choose to not have a
bank account or credit card or Facebook page. But if I w
ant electricity in my hom
e, m
y choice in this is somew
hat limited. I
must turn over m
y information to the utility.”
The Washington Post article “W
hen Is It Worth
Giving U
p Your Data? Am
ericans Aren’t Quite
Sure” points out that customers m
ay be aware
of the benefits — cheaper energy bills or greater
convenience — of giving up personal inform
ation.
But consumers are w
ary that their data may
someday be used against them
.There are also public policy and social issues
at stake. “In the 21st century there is that inter-connectedness, so w
e don’t always consider it an
individual choice. There are social implications
that demand inform
ation sharing,” Carm
ody said.
Third parties crashing the partyCustom
er concerns
are com
pounded by
the expansion
of distributed
energy resources,
Carm
ody said. “We’ve got retail suppliers, energy
managem
ent companies, and solar installers all
cold calling and knocking on doors. Customers
can resent the intrusion into private space.”Third parties such as energy suppliers are
licensed and regulated in some deregulated states,
and utilities are required to give them custom
er inform
ation. Utilities m
ust not surrender such inform
ation without obtaining custom
er consent through clear com
munication.
“We see this lack of effective com
munication
all the time w
ith banks and insurance compa-
nies,” Carm
ody said. “We all get those let-
ters in the mail once a year in 5-point font
that many of us can’t even read, telling
us that unless you tell us not to, we’re go-
ing to turn this information over.” U
tilities m
ust avoid such pitfalls by being transparent, she said.
Once the utility releases inform
ation, custom-
ers are dealing with all sorts of different players
and have no idea what these third parties w
ill do w
ith the information. W
ithout rules or some sort
Sample Privacy Statem
ent and PolicyFort Collins U
tilities in Colorado provides a great example of how
public power
utilities can comm
unicate privacy protocols to customers. G
o to ww
w.fcgov.com
/utilities/m
anage-your-account to view a Privacy Statem
ent and Privacy Policy.
The Privacy Policy notes that “The City of Fort Collins is comm
itted to protecting online users’ privacy. Protection of personal privacy on the Internet prom
otes citizen confidence, increases participation in online activities and supports effective delivery of services. The purpose of our policy is to inform
you about the types of inform
ation we gather w
hen you visit our site, how w
e may use that
information, and w
hether we disclose it to anyone.”
The policy, housed under the “Manage Your A
ccount” section of the utility’s w
ebsite, explains the following in clear and sim
ple language:
• W
hy information is collected.
• H
ow personal inform
ation is collected and used.
• H
ow custom
ers can control use of information (and choose not to disclose it).
• H
ow the utility protects personal inform
ation.
• W
hat information is provided to third parties.
• H
ow W
eb browser “cookies” are used.
of agreement in place, a third party could sell the
information to a fourth party, and so on.
The bottom line is custom
er consent. Utilities
should keep this front and center so they are bet-ter prepared to proactively deal w
ith the increas-ing num
ber of third parties coming into the utility
space.
Regulations and guidelines
Several national and state agencies have developed guidelines for best practices in sharing sm
art-m
eter data, according to a brief on smart-grid data
privacy guidelines by Paul Zumm
o, manager of
policy research and analysis at the American Public
Power Association. The brief noted organizations
including the North Am
erican Energy Standards Board, the Verm
ont Law School’s Institute for
Energy and
the Environm
ent, and
the U
.S. D
epartment of Energy.
Some rules and guidelines exist w
ithin state governm
ents. “The
California
and C
olorado com
missions issued rulings that have guided
stakeholders around the country in developing sm
art-meter data privacy policies,” Zum
mo said.
Oklahom
a, Oregon, Texas, Verm
ont, Washington
and Wisconsin also have statutes or regulations on
smart-grid data privacy. “M
ost m
odel business
practices and
state regulations
suggest that
affirmative
customer
consent be provided before utilities share any data,” Zum
mo said. The consent form
s must be
clear and concise and explain the purpose of the data disclosure.
The California Public U
tilities Com
mission es-
Today, customers’ privacy
concerns have expanded way
beyond smart m
eters — to the
collection of real-time energy use
data, energy managem
ent tools, and
installation of distributed resources
such as rooftop solar.
Pu
blicP
ow
er.org
/ #
Pu
blicP
ow
er 31
30
Pu
blic P
ow
er /March-A
pril 2016
The DataG
uard Voluntary C
ode of Conduct
Custom
er notice and awareness: H
ow custom
ers learn what they
need to know to exercise inform
ed choice
Custom
er choice and consent: How
customers control their data
and under what lim
itations
Custom
er data access: How
customers can access their data,
identify possible inaccuracies, and request corrections
Data integrity and security: R
equirements for a cybersecurity risk
managem
ent program, and m
ethodologies for creating aggregated or anonym
ized data
Self-enforcement m
anagement and redress: Com
pliance requirem
ents for service providers who voluntarily adopt the code
Learn more and dow
nload the voluntary code of conduct at w
ww
.smartgrid.gov/data_guard.htm
l
DataGuard Voluntary Code of Conduct for Utilities and Third Parties
tablished that utilities do not need to obtain cus-tom
er consent when they share inform
ation with
contracted third parties providing a primary pur-
pose — such as billing —
but must receive custom
-er consent to release inform
ation to third parties providing a secondary purpose such as optional energy efficiency or dem
and response services.
Public power and sunshine law
sPublic pow
er utilities have unique challenges as m
ost are subject to “sunshine” laws. Sunshine
laws in num
erous states require public agencies to disclose public records. G
enerally, customers m
ust petition for their data to be kept confidential, said D
elia Patterson, general counsel at the American
Public Power Association.
All public records laws include specific exem
p-tions w
hich apply to certain types of records, while
some also contain general exem
ptions to protect the public interest or prevent invasion of privacy. U
tilities should store and provide access to neces-sary inform
ation.
“I would advise public pow
er utilities to get fa-m
iliar with the law
regarding public disclosure in their state,” Patterson said. “They m
ust then devel-op privacy policies to protect custom
ers’ personal data to the fullest extent allow
able under law.” U
tilities should make privacy policies accessible
to customers. They m
ust obtain written consent
before disclosing customer data to m
ost third parties, notify custom
ers when data is disclosed,
and educate customers about the im
plications of sharing data w
ith third parties. It’s also important
for utilities to think about what to do if they
inadvertently disclose customers’ private data, said
Patterson.
Ever after is not a happy outcome
In the May 2015 Pew
Research study, customers
expressed concerns about how long com
panies w
ere retaining their personal information and
whether it stays in the cloud or elsew
here beyond the tim
e it is really needed. This points to the need for utilities, and third parties, to have clear policies
As part of D
ataGuard, an energy data privacy program
, the U.S.
Departm
ent of Energy released a privacy voluntary code of conduct
in 2015.
The voluntary code of conduct is intended to protect the privacy and confidentiality of custom
er data while providing reliable, affordable
electric and energy-related services and provide customers w
ith appropriate access to their ow
n customer data.
The code can be adopted voluntarily by utilities and third parties. It could be m
ost beneficial to entities that are not subject to regulation by applicable regulatory authorities, or entities w
hose applicable regulatory authorities have not im
posed relevant requirements or
guidelines. The code does not infringe on or supersede any law,
regulation, or governance by any applicable federal, state, or local regulatory authority.
When utilities adopt the code and sign a voluntary com
mitm
ent to adhere to it, it serves as a “G
ood Housekeeping” seal of sorts, said
Paula Carmody, People’s Counsel for the State of M
aryland. It allows
utilities to be transparent about their policies and instill confidence in custom
ers.
branches
7448
_end
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74
_ndu
.indd 105/02/1
5:1 P
M
for customer inform
ation retention and disposal, C
armody said.
DataG
uard (see
page 13),
an energy
data privacy program
and voluntary code of conduct, facilitated by the U
.S. Departm
ent of Energy, has som
e guidelines that utilities can follow —
and m
odel for third parties. “There
are lots
of tentacles
these days,”
Carm
ody said. To ensure that information does
not leak, utilities must draw
the data privacy tree and strengthen the branches —
the contractual relationships
they have
with
third parties
to w
hom they provide inform
ation. There should be retention and disposal policies around shared inform
ation, too.W
e’re in the age of big data and a lot of aggregated and anonym
ized data is often made
available to researchers and public policy experts. Such big-picture data m
ay be useful in many
ways and is O
K to share. But utilities must be
transparent and explain to customers w
hat is shared, w
ith whom
, and why.
MYTH
Smart m
eters are less accurate and m
ake customers pay m
ore on their bills.
MYTH
My utility owns m
y info and can give it to anyone.
FACTStates have laws in place to prohibit sharing with any unaffiliated
third party.
MYTH
My data is still vulnerable to
cybersecurity threats.
FACTUtilities take their responsibility for careful protection of data seriously. Utilities m
ake it a priority to create and enforce security standards on both on- and off-grid system
s.
MYTH
They’re collecting all this data so they can get rich.
FACTM
any laws prohibit the use of such data for mailing lists or other
comm
ercial purposes.
MYTH
I never signed anything saying I give perm
ission to share my
data.
FACTThe way a utility collects your data varies by state – som
e local laws require custom
ers to give consent, and mandate that any data
utilities do collect is encrypted and secure.
MYTH
My utility can control how m
any loads of laundry I do.
FACTYour utility can’t control how you use your appliances, but your energy use will be reflected in your utility bill and your utility m
ay suggest ways to help you save.
MYTH
It’s too hot in the summ
er, my
utility must have turned back m
y AC.
FACTYour utility won’t change your therm
ostat — m
any other factors in your hom
e can contribute to ineffective cooling. But you can opt in to a voluntary dem
and response program, which allows the utility to
change the temperature when dem
and is high and save you money.
MYTH
That smart m
eter will make m
e sick.
FACTRadio frequency levels produced by sm
art meters are well below
the maxim
um set by the Federal Com
munications Com
mission —
typically 70 tim
es less.
FACTM
eter manufacturers supply certified testing results to prove that
smart m
eters generate accurate measurem
ents. Utilities repeatedly perform
accuracy tests, often side-by-side with analog meters.
34
Pu
blic P
ow
er /March-A
pril 2016P
ub
licPo
wer.o
rg /
#P
ub
licPo
wer
35
793913_Pow
er.indd 12/6/16 9:54 A
M
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hen it comes to electric pow
er transmission. A
t Am
erican Transmission C
o., our sole
focus is power transm
ission – and we have a track record to prove it. S
ince our inception in 2001, we have successfully
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ore than 70 major projects – long and short lines, urban and rural construction, and projects that cross state
lines. We are an experienced builder, consistently achieving cost estim
ate accuracy within 5 percent of the estim
ate, better
than the industry standard. With A
TC on your team
, you gain the knowledge and experience of the nation’s first m
ulti-
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ning, operating and managing com
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It helps to have a pro on your team.
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792171_Am
erican.indd 130/01/16 2:27 am
36
Pu
blic P
ow
er /March-A
pril 2016P
ub
licPo
wer.o
rg /
#P
ub
licPo
wer
37
WA
SH
ING
TON
REP
OR
T
It’s tim
e to gear up and take to the field for some heavy grid m
oderniza-tion research and developm
ent. The D
epartment of Energy is funding up to $220 m
illion for its nation-al laboratories and partners, including several public pow
er players. The initiative represents a com
prehensive effort from W
ashington to help shape the future grid.
The strategy – support research and development in advanced storage
systems, clean energy integration, standards and test procedures, and a
number of other key grid m
odernization areas.
Public power has a long w
inning streak when it com
es to putting federal funds to effective use in a num
ber of areas including grid m
odernization.
RE
AD
MOR
E on page 8 about public pow
er utilities who are
hardly fresh-faced rookies when it com
es to effectively utilizing funding from
the DOE
to invest in smart-grid technologies, tools,
and techniques.
RE
GIO
N: SO
UTH
EA
ST
Team: Electric Pow
er Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Tennessee Valley
Authority; South Carolina’s Santee C
ooperP
lays: EPB is developing a grid sensing and measurem
ent strategy and tackling advanced sensor developm
ent and threat detection and response w
ith data analytics. EPB, Santee Cooper and TVA w
ill work in tandem
to m
ap the modernized grid. Santee C
ooper is also helping on a transformer
efficiency project. TVA is slated to participate in several other grid services and valuation projects.
RE
GIO
N: W
ES
TTeam
: Idaho Falls Power, U
tah Associated M
unicipal Power System
s, and Riverside Public U
tilities and Palo Alto U
tilities in California
Plays: Idaho Falls Pow
er and UA
MPS w
ill work to im
prove the physical security of the Idaho Falls distribution system
through smart reconfiguration
and intelligent demand response. M
eanwhile, in C
alifornia, Palo Alto
Utilities plans to partner w
ith SunPower to understand the im
pacts on the distribution system
linked to boosting solar penetration. In Riverside, C
alifornia, the utility is developing an open-source platform for advanced
distribution managem
ent systems.
Public Power’s Playbook for Grid M
odernizationB
y Michael H
yland, Senior Vice President, E
ngineering Services, APPA
WA
SH
ING
TO
N R
EP
OR
T
Buried under feet of snow
after a historic blizzard…Trapped in a sm
ok-ing train during rush hour…
Does it seem
like one situation warrants
comm
unication and the other dead silence? I didn’t think so either.W
ashington, Jan. 21 — I w
as on my w
ay home after w
ork, admiring
the high-tech audiovisual features of the new M
etro rail car I was riding.
The train stopped in the middle of now
here for several minutes, and
smoke clouded the car. I sm
elled burning and the train started to move. I
was starting to panic and the fancy audiovisual system
did not give me a
clue as to what w
as happening. After a harrow
ing 5 minutes, w
e reached the next station. The operator sim
ply announced that the train was out
of service, and we all rushed out. The end. N
o explanations or apologies from
Metro, then or later.
The next day marked the start of #
Blizzard2016 on the East Coast.
The Washington area w
as blanketed by up to 30 inches of snow, trapping people indoors for the better part of a w
eek. It took more than three days
for the snow plow
s to get to my street. Frustrating? Actually it w
as NO
T —
because Montgom
ery County, M
aryland, kept me w
ell informed. A
plow m
ap on the county’s website told m
e exactly when I could expect
our neighborhood to be cleaned up. The county reminded m
e that crews
were w
orking 24/7 to help bring life back to normal.
Com
munication m
akes all the difference.
In branding public power, custom
er service and crisis comm
unications are w
hat matter m
ost. Even if you could afford glossy brochures, giant bill-boards or snazzy w
ebsites, they would do nothing for you if you can’t keep
your customers inform
ed during an outage. As M
icheal Vigeant, CEO
of G
reatBlue Research, said to me recently, “C
ustomers think m
ore about their utility w
hen the power is off than w
hen it is on.”W
hat is your utility’s outage comm
unication plan? If you don’t have one in place yet, start w
ith these five essential steps, which w
ill be easy on your budget and resources.
The Am
erican Public Power A
ssociation’s Storm C
omm
unications G
uide has handy tips, resources and examples for w
hat you can do before, during and after a storm
. Dow
nload a PDF (free to m
embers) or buy print
copies at ww
w.PublicPower.org/M
utualAid.
Be prepared to comm
unicate when the pow
er is out so your customers
will appreciate you m
ore when the pow
er is on.
Being On While Being Out
By M
eena Dayak, V
ice President, Integrated Media and Com
munications, A
PPA
GO
ING
PU
BL
IC
RE
GIO
N: M
IDW
ES
TTeam
: Am
es and Cedar Falls, Iow
aP
lays: The city of Am
es and Cedar Falls U
tilities will collaborate w
ith several IO
Us, tw
o grid operators, Iowa State U
niversity and ISU’s Electric
Power Research C
enter to develop load and distributed generation models.
RE
GIO
N: N
OR
THE
AS
TTeam
: APPA, N
ational Rural Electric Cooperative A
ssociation, Interstate Renew
able Energy Council, Pedernales Electric C
ooperative, National
Grid, A
rizona Public Service Co., Black and Veatch, D
OE national labs
Plays: W
ith a strong offense from industry associations, utilities and
national labs, APPA w
ill develop tools, identify gaps, and provide technical assistance
and training
for state
regulators and
smaller
utilities for
modernizing the grid and incorporating distributed energy resources.
783148_AT
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5 Things You Can D
o Now
1.In tim
es of calm, explain com
mon causes of outages —
fromsquirrels to storm
s — and w
hat your utility does to prevent andprepare.
2.W
hen it’s storm season in your area, be sure to share em
ergencypreparedness tips (see w
ww
.ready.gov) via bill stuffers,new
sletters, your website and social m
edia channels.
3.Set up an em
ail and/or text alert system and encourage
customers to sign up.
4.M
aintain a Facebook and Twitter account for your utility and
encourage customers to like/follow
you. Then identify who at your
utility will post official updates during outages.
5.Identify a spokesperson to provide regular updates to your localTV, radio, and new
spaper stations on outage restoration efforts.
“Custom
ers think more about
their utility when the pow
er is off than w
hen it is on.”
38
Pu
blic P
ow
er /March-A
pril 2016P
ub
licPo
wer.o
rg /
#P
ub
licPo
wer
39
CO
MM
UN
ICATIN
G TH
E VALU
E
Can a sm
all village share electricity, store its combined solar pow
er for future use, and direct som
e of that solar power to charge an electric car?
A public power research and developm
ent project in the Show M
e state proved it can.
At the Solar Village Microgrid at the M
issouri University of Science and
Technology, students in four houses consume the pow
er they generate and share pow
er through a small m
icrogrid. Rooftop solar panels and a fuel cell unit that runs on natural gas together generate 24 kilow
atts. Batteries store pow
er for cloudy days. The village microgrid can run on its
own or can be connected to the grid that pow
ers the city. And residents
provide continuous feedback to help determine the future feasibility of
microgrids on a large scale.The project launched in 2014. M
ore than a year and a half later, the m
icrogrid is fully functional. The solar village entered into an intercon-nection and operating agreem
ent with the local utility, Rolla M
unicipal U
tilities, to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of the city’s distribution system
.
Show Me the M
icrogridB
y Michele Suddleson, D
irector, Dem
onstration of Energy &
Efficiency D
evelopments Program
, APPA
A university solar village demonstrated how utilities can evolve along with technology
INN
OV
AT
ION
Utilities w
ell know that som
e customers are uncom
fortable with utilities
— or anyone for that m
atter — possessing fine levels of inform
ation about their lives. But m
ore information m
eans more benefits for everyone,
customers included. G
ranular data means custom
ers can better see their energy use patterns and find w
ays not only to save energy, but to save m
oney.If utilities w
ant to implem
ent grid modernization projects, an
important first step is m
aking customers feel secure about their data.
Utilities don’t have to follow
model business practices for data use, and
regulators are still giving leeway w
hile they consider best practices. So w
hile regulators and policymakers on all levels look at w
ays to gov-ern consum
er data privacy, not just for electricity meters, utilities can take
simple steps of their ow
n that mirror w
hat models released to date share
at their core. Here are the Top 10 w
ays to help customers feel secure.
1.Get a yes or no answ
erThe industry consensus is that custom
ers must provide affirm
ative,w
ritten consent in order for utilities to share customer energy use data or
personal customer inform
ation with third parties. U
tilities should main-
tain a record of this consent.2.Lim
it what’s released
Once custom
ers have consented, the data provided to third parties shouldbe lim
ited to the scope and purpose for the consent given.3.B
e clear on aggregationSharing aggregated data generally doesn’t require custom
er consent, butw
hat does aggregated data mean? U
tilities should use clear aggregationm
ethodologies to ensure privacy is not breached.4.R
equire a badgeU
tilities can release smart-grid data to third parties w
ithout prior consentin very rare circum
stances — usually to law
enforcement or the like. U
til-ities should release only the data specifically related to the legal request orinvestigation.5.M
ake access easy, for customers
What is the point of all this data if custom
ers can’t use it? Custom
ers should be able to access their data easily and in a reasonably tim
ely m
anner.6.M
ake it accurateU
tilities should strive to provide data as accurately as possible, thoughinaccuracies are expected. C
ustomers should have a m
eans to disputedata inaccuracies.7.K
eep it secureSecuring data is one of the m
ost sensitive aspects of data privacy. Utilities
must be diligent in safeguarding custom
er data — perform
regular auditsand risk assessm
ents.
10 Tips: Keep Customers Secure
With Grid M
odernizationB
y Paul Zumm
o, Manager of Policy Research and A
nalysis, APPA
SE
CU
RIT
Y
8.Train handlers carefullyEm
ployees handling data should be properly trained to do so. Theyshould have access only to the data they need to perform
tasks at handand surrender all custom
er information upon departure from
the utility.Background checks are recom
mended.
9.Educate custom
ersEducate custom
ers as much as possible about the utility’s privacy policies,
why their data m
ay be shared, ways they can access their data, and how
to file complaints.
10.Look for liabilitiesU
tilities may be held liable if a third party breaches a custom
er’s privacy,depending on their local regulations. Be sure to check local governingdocum
ents to see if potential liability is mentioned.
Call now 573-796-3812 | Fax 573-796-3770
ww
w.tanawirem
arker.comTANA
WIRE
MARKERS
P.O.Box 370,California,MO
65018
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vand
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Access forw
ard thinking.
Transcend com
modity engineering.
For decad
es, the experts at Leid
os Engineering
have help
ed utilities op
timize op
erations and p
repare for
what’s next. O
ur solutions in system p
lanning, g
rid
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art Grid
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ays in mind
.
leidos.com
/pow
er-grid
Activate Tom
orrow, Tod
ay.
Luis Tom
ioka
Protection and
Control Engineer
7850_
eids.indd 1
12/21/15 8:52 PM
“As a utility, w
e have
to learn to change
with the technology.”
–B
rent McK
inney,
electric transmission
and distribution
manager, C
ity Utilities
of Springfield
Players
City Utilities of S
pringfield, Rolla
Municipal U
tilities, Missouri U
ni-
versity of Science and Technology
and Am
eren tested the solar, stor-
age and microgrid technologies
with the help of a $125,000 grant
from the A
merican P
ublic Pow
er
Association’s D
emonstration of
Energy &
Efficiency D
evelop-
ments program
LessonsA
fuel cell is a valuable compo-
nent to a microgrid, w
hen it is
working, but support for fuel cells
is still evolving.
Microgrid m
anagement system
s
have to work w
ith other vendors’
hardware.
Data collection from
smart
technologies at a networked
village can help pinpoint defects
in energy production and
household appliances.
Doing It A
gainT
he solar village generated data that utilities interested in microgrid
design, scalability and public acceptance would find useful. T
he project
raised public awareness of m
icrogrids and spurred a research consortium
at Missouri S
&T. T
he university is building a second microgrid in a new
six-home solar village that is under developm
ent.
Learn More
Access the project report for this
and other microgrid research
and development projects
through AP
PA
’s DE
ED
database.
The database is available to
DE
ED
mem
bers. To join, visit
PublicP
ower.org
/DE
ED
Pu
blicP
ow
er.org
/ #
Pu
blicP
ow
er 3
40
Pu
blic P
ow
er /March-A
pril 2016
Slow and SteadyW
ho: Andy BoatrightW
hat: Utility M
anagerW
here: Westerville Electric Division
The fable of the tortoise and the
hare asks us all to slow dow
n. It says w
e’ll get to the end in one piece and cross the finish line just fine if our journey is not m
ade in haste. Even projects designed to take us into the future —
like sm
art meters that m
ake access-ing custom
er data lightning fast —
can benefit from a careful,
measured approach.In
Westerville,
Ohio,
the utility’s 5 year (and counting) grid m
odernization project is still going. Expected
to w
rap up
in 2018,
the project’s original timeline w
as extended by a vocal m
inority of custom
ers who w
ere uncomfortable
with sm
art meters and m
ade sure the city council heard them
. The delay caused the utility to forfeit m
ore than $4 million in federal
grant funding. But in hindsight, the utility’s leader, A
ndy Boatright, sees the process as a slow
and steady trium
ph.“At
the introduction
of this
project, we received a pretty strong
local outcry from a m
inority group of custom
ers,” he said. “What w
e didn’t know
back then is how vocal
a group could be on this issue.” If there’s one thing utilities have
learned about grid modernization,
it’s that smart m
eters can be polar-izing. W
hich is why leaders agree
that getting buy-in on the front end is the key to success.
For public power utilities, buy-
in doesn’t just need to come from
custom
ers. We need the support of
our governing bodies. But getting that buy-in is easier said than done, Boatright said.
“It may take a couple of stabs
at it, like it did for us, but in time
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they’ll start looking around and seeing w
hat the trends are in the industry,”
Boatright said.
“You keep them
abreast of what’s hap-
pening. They may turn around for
you if they’re on the fence about it. A
nd once you have that support, you should be good for the long haul.”Looking back on w
hat has been a long haul for the utility, Boatright said taking the slow
er path to grid m
odernization has helped Wester-
ville work out kinks that m
ight otherw
ise have grown into bigger
problems. N
ow, it’s smooth sailing.
“By and large it worked out for
the better and I think what w
e’re seeing in the industry is that a fast deploym
ent isn’t always the
best deployment,” he said. “W
e’ve avoided, in m
y opinion, a lot of problem
s that some of the fast de-
ployments
experienced, w
hether they w
ere internal or external or fleshed out in the public dom
ain. W
e’ve been able to kind of dodge those things, m
itigate those issues, by taking it a little slow
er.”
4 Public Power /March-April 2016
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