[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E386-E387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS' RIGHT TO KNOW ACT

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                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 16, 2010

  Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, information is the 
ultimate tool for empowering consumers. The more people know about the 
things they buy, the better able they are to match their needs and 
budget to the appropriate product and quantity of that product. This 
principle has been applied to help consumers make more fully-informed 
decisions on everything from corn flakes to cars, but never to 
electricity. Today I am introducing the Electricity Consumers' Right to 
Know Act (e-KNOW) to establish the consumers' right to access their 
electricity information. Encouraging energy efficiency and conservation 
in our homes and businesses is one of the easiest and most cost-
effective ways to strengthen our energy security and reduce global 
warming pollution. e-KNOW is a simple way to ensure that electric 
utility consumers have access to free, timely, and secure data 
regarding their electricity prices and usage patterns so they can take 
charge of their energy use and save money on utility bills.
  The Pacific Northwest National Lab has found convincing evidence that 
consumers will change their energy consumption behavior in response to 
feedback they get regarding prices and patterns of use. When people see 
just how expensive electricity is when demand peaks on a hot summer 
day, they find ways to conserve energy or defer usage to a later time. 
This saves consumers money directly and also reduces the need for 
utilities to build more power plants, thereby indirectly saving 
consumers money through avoided rate increases in the future.
  Rapid developments in Smart Grid technologies are providing a golden 
opportunity to

[[Page E387]]

bridge the consumer information gap, but without regulatory reforms to 
ensure customers and their third party designees can access their 
electricity information, the potential of these technology advances 
will not be fully realized. The Recovery Act provided $4.5 billion to 
accelerate standardization and deployment of the Smart Grid, including 
assistance in deploying millions of ``smart meters'' that can provide 
customers real-time usage and pricing information through two-way 
communications with the utility. The Electric Power Research Institute 
estimates that the U.S. will spend $165 billion over the next 20 years 
building the Smart Grid, and FERC estimates that smart meters 
deployments will rise ten-fold over the next decade, from 8 million 
today to 80 million in 2019.
  With full roll-out of smart grid technologies, the Pacific Northwest 
National Lab estimates that conservation efforts resulting from 
consumers' access to information will reduce residential and commercial 
electricity demand by 6 percent. This would save businesses and 
consumers more than $15 billion annually and reduce carbon dioxide 
emissions significantly: 92 million metric tons annually in 2030, equal 
to the emissions of 16 large coal power plants. Providing customers 
with access to the data will not happen by itself. One recent study of 
a number of large utilities found that of the almost 17 million new 
meters being planned or deployed by respondents, only 35 percent had 
clear plans to provide customer access to the data. Less than 1 percent 
of these utilities' customers have real-time access to electricity data 
today.
  States and utilities need not wait for full smart meter deployments 
to see benefits from adopting more transparent consumer data policies. 
Even without price incentives, simply providing consumers better 
information about their energy use has been shown to reduce total 
consumption by 5 to 15 percent, providing annual savings of $60 to $180 
for the average American household. Even without smart meters, 
customers with access to historical electricity usage and price data 
can analyze their energy usage over time, evaluate prospective energy-
efficiency investments, and compare electricity consumption against 
similarly sized houses. Improved access to this very basic data will 
also let new buyers of homes or buildings factor energy efficiency 
information into their purchase decisions.
  Making energy data readily accessible to end-users will also open a 
whole new market and unleash massive innovation in the area of home and 
building energy management. Google and Microsoft are among the many 
innovators that have already released Internet-based visualization 
tools that are helping consumers better manage their energy use.
  This legislation implements critical recommendations regarding 
increased consumer access to energy data that were included in the 
Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan that was 
also released today. e-KNOW is critical to empowering energy consumers 
in the near-term, but it is also one part of an evolving national Smart 
Grid policy that will encourage entrepreneurs to use new technologies 
and business models to create a variety of energy management and 
information services over the longer-term. Making energy data available 
to electricity customers and their authorized third parties is 
fundamental to unleashing this vast potential for innovation.
  The e-KNOW Act amends Title II of the Public Utility Regulatory 
Policies Act of 1978 by adding Section 215, Electric Consumer Right to 
Access Electric Energy Information.
  Under this legislation, U.S. electricity consumers, and any third 
parties they designate, would have the right to access their 
electricity usage and pricing information from their retail electricity 
provider in a free, timely, and convenient manner that ensures privacy 
and data security. To help implement this consumer right of access, the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in consultation with State 
regulatory authorities, the Secretary of Energy, and other appropriate 
Federal agencies, would--within six months of the date of enactment--
establish guidelines identifying minimum national standards that States 
and utilities could adopt to ensure customers this right. These 
standards would incorporate and build upon the pioneering work done in 
this area by innovative States, including California, Pennsylvania, and 
Texas, which have already adopted standards to ensure consumer access 
to electricity data.
  If, one year after the promulgation of the FERC guidelines, a retail 
electric utility fails to uphold the minimum national standards for 
ensuring consumer access to electricity data, the State may bring a 
civil action against the utility on behalf of its electric consumers to 
ensure compliance with the Act. If no civil action is brought by a 
state authority, any electric consumer may bring a civil action against 
their retail electric provider to require compliance with the Act. 
Enforcement authorities would not apply against utilities that FERC 
has, within the most recent two years, determined have adopted and 
implemented a policy that complies with the minimum standards set forth 
by FERC.

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