Illinois Rejects Process for Third Party Access to Customer Energy Usage Data, Citing Cost, Privacy Concerns

The Illinois Commerce Commission ended a three-year investigation into the possible adoption of a process that would allow non-retail electric suppliers to access the energy usage data of customers, according to an April 2 news release. While acknowledging the potential benefits of data sharing via grid modernization, the commission pointed to concerns that the proposal put forth by stakeholders would shift costs onto ratepayers and introduce new issues regarding protection of customer data privacy. The commission initiated the docket in 2017 to explore safeguards for a third-party warrant process for non-retail electric suppliers to access interval meter usage data of customers using advanced metering infrastructure.

The proceeding intended to give parties the opportunity to craft a process by which non-RES third-parties could warrant that they had the requisite authority from the customer to gain access to that customer’s specific interval data. Currently, non-RES third-parties can access advanced metering information data when a customer provides authorization to the utility that releases the usage information via a web portal called Green Button Connect. The commission staff asserts that “there is no reason why the commission should approve any process in addition to Green Button Connect, especially at ratepayer expense, without first resolving the question of whether the process is necessary or useful.” Almost three years after it was approved, the Green Button Connect process remains virtually untested, with only three third-parties registered in ComEd’s territory and none in Ameren’s.

The Attorney General said that there is no need for a novel third-party data access process, noting the proposal presented by stakeholders is not a warrant process. The proposal is an “alternative to the Green Button Connect process, one that will facilitate indirect customer authorization, i.e., authorization initiated not by the customer of the utility but by the third-party to the utility, later to be confirmed by the customer through a series of additional steps,” the AG noted. The proposal would introduce new issues regarding protection of customer data privacy, and without a cost-benefit analysis, the AG argues that it is not possible to determine whether its costs should be approved for recovery in rates charged to customers.