Aggregated Energy Data Community Planning December 16, 2015

2 Issue Statement Aggregated, community-level utility energy use data is needed to help communities and New York State plan for, implement, and track progress of clean energy initiatives associated with Reforming the Energy Vision (REV)

3 General Background Regional greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories (2012) Worked with utilities to get aggregated community energy use (electricity and natural gas) data (2012) Commercial Residential Industrial Public Authority Street lighting Exploratory vs. Implementation-level data Many communities are still asking for it (local GHG inventories, Climate Action Plans, Five Cities planning, 170+ Climate Smart Communities, 10 Regional Sustainability Plans, etc)

4 Utility Involvement Data Sharing (2012-present) Manual  Automated See value in standardization/single report Want to be helpful partner

5 Community Experience Data collection major challenge during Five Cities Energy Planning process All utility representatives demonstrated a willingness to be strong partners However, data requested took significantly longer then expected –Availability of data or resources to collect data (i.e. capability of systems) –Ability to provide the data (i.e. security concerns) –Lack of standardization (i.e. geographic area, level of data, timeframe)

6 Need How communities are using energy What specific clean energy efforts would be most impactful Highlight communities for targeted assistance and programs State and communities track progress and adjust strategies

7 Recommendations Standardized reporting of aggregated community-level utility energy use data, accessible through open platform. Geo-political roll-up: aggregated service classification-specific reporting Include privacy rules Standardized format Annual Reporting Monthly Breakdown preferred Mandatory Reporting Publicly Available Single Portal No fee

8 AttributeProsConsPotential Solutions Geo- political roll up Protects individual account privacy Gives local governments information they need to begin planning for their clean energy future Addition tool to track progress toward 80x50 goals State can analyze effects of different program offerings based on uptake in certain areas and adjust accordingly For larger municipalities, a higher level of resolution would be more meaningful Optional zip code-level reporting Privacy rules such as 4/80 Annual Reporting Easy Provides minimum resolution needed for municipal clean energy planning and state programming Won’t highlight any seasonal outliers Entities needing higher resolution could pay fee for additional data Monthly Breakdown Higher resolution data, highlighting seasonal outliers Potentially burdensome for utilities Only report monthly data annually Mandatory Reporting Ensures consistent, quality data This data is in the public interest Utilities will need to develop capacity for specified aggregated reporting, which can take time and money State could collaborate with utilities to generate automated queries that produce requested data Publicly Available Eliminates need for utilities to respond to one-off requests May spark competition within municipalities to reduce energy use Some municipalities do not want their data public Allow local governments to opt out of publicizing data, but still allow NYS access for program planning Single Portal Easy access to data for all parties (State, communities, and private sector) Replicable or scalable to other states Ability to be self-sustaining as non-profit or other business model Need a single entity to develop and manage Prototype of portal developed and functional Exploring potential non-profit models No fee Aggregated exploratory data can create demand for more detailed, fee-based implementation data and analysis Energy demographic dataset is in public interest, whereas others should be monetized Limits available sources of revenue for utilities It is anticipated that costs should be minimal after initial standardization and query development.

9 Supporting REV Goals Community participation is dependent upon previously unavailable data Communities need: How they compare to similar communities Biggest energy-using sectors, unique energy attributes Way to track progress over time State needs: Data to inform program development, marketing, implementation, and tracking

10 Future/Other Issues Other aggregated utility data Load profile information Energy cost by sector Renewable energy interconnection data Customer analytics (i.e.% ESCO customers)

11 Summary 1.Exploratory, aggregated demographic energy data is in the public interest 2.Implementation-level data will be essential to individual community decision making under REV