Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss a bill that I filed, called the Electric Consumer Right to Know Act. This bill takes a common-sense step toward broadening consumers' access to data about their electricity usage. On top of that, I am proud to say that this idea came directly from one of my Colorado constituents.

In today's marketplace, consumers have a clear understanding of the price of gasoline and what their car mileage means for their pocket books. They also have ready access to the number of minutes remaining on their cell phone. However, consumers lack clear, timely data about their electricity use and its price. Providing increased transparency will help consumers with their decisions about electricity usage in their home or business.

The bill I filed today would provide timely access to these data by establishing consumers' clear right to access data on their own electricity usage. This right is an important step toward a more effective, reliable and efficient electrical grid, and a step toward helping consumers use electricity more efficiently and save money on their electric bills.

For the past year I have been travelling across Colorado as part of a work force tour to talk directly to Coloradans and hear their innovative policy ideas to create jobs, including hosting an Energy Jobs Summit in Denver back in February. As part of this Summit, we asked experts in energy policy and business to join us for a conversation about how we can better position Colorado and the United States to lead in the 21st century clean energy economy.

We heard from Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Governor Bill Ritter, Senator MICHAEL BENNET, and Congressman ED PERLMUTTER. But, more importantly, we heard from Coloradans who came to share their views on what the Federal Government can do, or in some instances not do, to support job creation and transition to cleaner and more efficient energy use.

One consumer participant at the Summit noted that, even though he had a smart meter at his home, his power company would not let him access his electrical meter readings to learn how he was using electricity. If he could access those readings, he could better understand his energy use, learn how to be more energy efficient and save money. That is why I am introducing the Electric Consumer Right to Know Act to improve communication between the consumers and their utility, spur innovation in developing creative technologies that will save energy, and provide clarity while these programs are being developed.

This bill has several important parts. First, it establishes a framework for the right to access information, defining specifically what that right means, and giving clarity to those who will further develop and enforce that right. This bill says that if you have a smart meter, or similar electronic device that reads electric energy usage, that you ought to have access to the utility company's data on your energy use.

How that access is granted is delineated in three ways in this bill:

If your meter communicates with your utility on an hourly or shorter time interval, my bill states that your meter readings should be available within 24 hours.

Second, if your smart meter is capable of communicating energy use data directly from your meter, under this bill, you have the right to access those data and use them directly at your home or business.

Third, for consumers who have standard meters, with this bill, there are no additional requirements except that your readings shall be available electronically in a timely manner.

Next, the bill directs the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission to convene an open, extensive and inclusive stakeholder process to work through the details of this measure to ensure that implementing the consumers' right to access their information also retains consumer privacy, and ensures the integrity and reliability of the grid.

The outcome of this process will be national guidelines establishing the right of consumers to access their electricity data, including minimum national standards that utilities must meet to ensure that right of access. In developing those minimum standards, the FERC will take into consideration the ongoing and important work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in developing a smart grid roadmap, as well as the innovative state and local programs already being developed across the country to integrate smart meters into the electrical grid, including Colorado, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and others.

In Colorado, Xcel Energy has been working with the City of Boulder on a pilot program called SmartGridCity to develop a community-scale smart grid with over 20,000 residents participating. Not only are these consumers improving their understanding of their electricity use, Xcel notes that they have already avoided several blackouts due to the improved communication between consumers and the grid. Power interruptions cost the American economy roughly $80 billion per year and 2/3 of those losses come from interruptions lasting less than five minutes. I am proud to see Coloradans and our state's utilities taking important steps together in learning how to make the grid more reliable, efficient, and help save everyone money.

Finally, part of ensuring the right to access your data includes the right to retain the privacy of your data. When consumers gain access to their data, they will also need to clearly understand how it will be used, especially when consumers grant third-party access to it. This is why this bill states that the FERC will establish, among other important measures, guidelines for consumer consent requirements. Retaining privacy is critical to building consumer trust in the smart grid and facilitating the transition to when the smart grid becomes a part of everyday life for every American family.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and all interested stakeholders in establishing this right, defining it in a way that eliminates unintended consequences, and enforcing this right in a way that improves the efficient use of electrical energy.

This bill is an important first step in implementing smart meters across the country, moving us toward an electrical grid that is more reliable and more efficient a smart grid' if you will. There are several pieces of the puzzle that will be required to realize that future, and one critical part of that puzzle is the right of consumers to access their electricity data. I urge my colleagues of both parties to join me in supporting this important legislation.

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