Why is Utility Data Important
From Open Energy Information
With access to detailed information about how much energy you are consuming, it is easier for you to save money by lowering your energy bills. This is true for both residential and commercial energy users. In your home, information on how your energy use changes based on the time of day or time of year and knowing how you compare with your neighbors can help you save money. You can learn to make changes to appliance use to lower your bill or add energy efficiency technologies to your home to save energy. For commercial energy users, detailed energy data can help you set sound energy management goals, identify cost-effective energy efficiency measures, and target efficiency investments.
- Benchmarking
- Benchmarking is the practice of comparing how efficiently a building is using electricity, compared to its own previous use, to similar buildings, or to both. To use benchmarking to save electricity, monthly information on cost and consumption of electricity for the last 13 months is needed. This data must be available in an electronic format for the benchmarking system, and in the case of multi-meter buildings, aggregated data must be provided.
- Demand response/energy efficiency
- Demand response allows an electricity user the ability to lower electricity use at times when electricity is in high demand and, thus, most expensive. To make this possible, data must be available on electricity usage on an hourly or more frequent basis. This data must go back 13 months and be available electronically. In the case of multi-meter buildings, aggregate building data must be available.