Smart Grid Education and California California Public Utilities Commission

Transcription

1 Smart Grid Education and California California Public Utilities Commission Smart Grid Customer Education Symposium June 17,

2 Opening Statements Customers are an integral part of meeting the various energy and environmental goals of California Smart Grid is an important step in allowing the utility to operate in a more efficient manner Increased usage of information derived from Smart Grid can provide multiple benefits to both utility and their customers But are customers willing to be part of this effort and what if customers do not respond? How to move beyond the status quo bias Customer segmentation strategies 2

3 Advanced Meter Deployments 2004: CPUC directs electric utilities to file AMI applications Be able to support various pricing tariffs Collect data at an interval to allow customers to understand usage Allow customers to access their usage Be compatible with customer education and management applications Be compatible with utility systems and applications Be compatible with load control technology 2006: PG&E first utility approved to begin installing AMI 2009: Both SCE and SDG&E have approval to install AMI 2011: PG&E get approval for revised AMI application Provision of Home Area Network capability 2012: Southern California Gas Company receives approval to install AMI 2012: Electric utilities basically complete AMI installations A total of over 11 million electric/gas meters have been installed at a cost of over $7 billion. 3

4 What could go wrong?? Starting in 2009, PG&E began to receive complaints from customers near Bakersfield, California regarding their bills. These early complaints focused on the accuracy of the new meters. California hired the Structure Group to investigate these claims. Report found that meters were accurate, often more accurate than analog meters. Report did identify several things: A rate increase was recently put into effect (Remember- California uses tiers, so rate increases to Tiers 3, 4, and 5 can be high) That summer experienced several hot days in a row PG&E failed to adequately respond to customer complaints, and complaints not resolved in a timely manner In response to similar concerns in Texas, the Texas PUC hired Navigant to investigate accuracy concerns; that report reached similar conclusions as California s report. 4

5 A little while later.. Complaints began coming in on Radio Frequency emissions. These complaints centered on how much RF was emitted by the meter to support the wireless mesh network. Opponents also questioned the privacy and security of the meter and the networks. CPUC issued rules regarding protection of customer data in July Notably- 90%+ of all RF-related complaints come from PG&E s service territory. CPUC issued a decision in 2010 stating that certification of meter to determine RF is subject to FCC jurisdiction California Council on Science and Technology found no direct harm from RF emissions on humans, and further noted that if RF was found to cause harm, there are larger issues than advanced meters. 5

6 In Response CPUC authorized customers to opt-out of AMI, for a fee Customers that opt-out of having an advanced meter would pay $75 up front and $10 a month. CARE customers pay $10 up front and $5 a month. To date, PG&E has received about 36,000 requests to opt-out, or 0.66% of residential customers. SCE and SDG&E have or lower percentages Increased focus on customer education programs across IOUs Smart Grid investments still needed for statewide goals Electric vehicles RPS Distributed generation Reliability 6

7 What did we learn? Utilities still have a huge problem with trust. The meter isn t a piece of equipment on the side of a house; it means something Customer understanding of electricity and their utility still needs work Rates, rates, rates There is no one average customer, and many don t want to be bothered Customer acceptance of investments vital for success Go back to the basics: reliability and safety Ironies Automatic bill payments Paperless bills Customer segmentation No one message will resonate with all or even most customers No one medium will resonate with all or even most customers Need to target message and medium What is the story? 7

8 Customer Wants and Smart Grid We think a customer wants: To take control of their usage Be part of a movement Save money Smart Grid provides all of that, yet.. Slow sign-up for time of use rates or CPP Low use of a lot of EE programs Low participation in DR programs How do we get customers more involved? How do we educate customers about Smart Grid investments? Especially beyond AMI Customer segmentation Status quo bias Customers may not act rationally 8

9 What does this all mean? We still know very little about what a customer wants. We have a better idea of what a customer expects. Electricity to be available all the time But we have a lot information about a customer. AMI Financial info How do we bridge this gap and begin to use this information to provide better service? Smart Grid is needed because. Perhaps the utility is not best entity to provide this information and education? Moving beyond traditional utility services Allowing customers to share their information with others Need more risk takers Reject the status quo Take the plunge Failures will happen and should accept that One area where I think we did get it right 9

10 CPUC Privacy Rules Based on Fair Information Practice Principles Applies to utilities, utility contractors, and third parties that obtain data from the utilities To be enforced via utility tariffs Development of rules mostly result of consensus amongst parties (notably, utilities, privacy advocates, and consumer advocates) Goals of rules are both to protect customer privacy, but also enable customers to access usage data and share that data with authorized third parties to promote future conservation and grid management activities Primary Purpose/Secondary Purpose structure Primary purposes are provision or billing of electricity or gas, provide for system, grid, or operational needs, provide services required by state or federal law or as directed by the CPUC, and plan, implement, or evaluate demand response, energy efficiency or energy management programs Secondary purpose is anything that is not a primary purpose Primary Purposes do not require customer consent 10

11 Access and Sharing of Usage Information Utilities and CPUC Staff have been active in development of OpenADE and Green Button NAESB REQ 21 and REQ 22 SGIP PAP 20 October 2011: PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E agree to implement Green Button Download My Data Up and running by January 2012! Pursuant to D , utilities file applications to implement OpenADE in March 2012 (Green Button Connect My Data) Final decision expected by this summer. October 2012: PG&E and SDG&E announce Green Button Connect My Data live (beta) Remember!! CPUC Privacy rules do not apply to third parties that obtain data directly from customer Tariffs implementing CPUC Privacy Rules, which will cover third parties obtaining customer data via Green Button Connect My Data, still pending. 11

12 For Further Information CPUC Smart Grid webpage: PPD White Paper Customers as Grid Participants : C23551F09738/0/PPDCustomerRoleMay15th.pdf Chris Villarreal Policy and Planning Division Phone: (415) crv@cpuc.ca.gov 12