Province gives families and businesses more control over electricity and natural gas bills
Mount Elgin, ON – Energy Minister Todd Smith today joined ERTH Power to launch the new Green Button data that will allow families and businesses across Oxford, Elgin, Perth and Huron counties to track and control their energy use and save money on monthly bills.
“I’m pleased to see that Green Button is coming to homes and businesses across our region. Giving local consumers access to their real-time energy consumption data means they can take immediate steps to reduce their energy usage, reduce their environmental footprint and save money all at the same time,” said Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman.
Studies have found that access to energy data, which Green Button along with smart home devices enables, can help consumers achieve energy savings of up to 18 percent. Ontario becomes the first province in Canada to mandate the standard.
“Families and businesses want to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their energy bills,” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “Green Button is part of our commitment to give consumers more choice when it comes to their energy use and will enable easy, quick and safe access to their consumption data through smartphone or computer apps so they can find customized tips to reduce energy use or switch electricity price plans to save money.”
“ERTH Power is excited to be at the forefront of providing our consumers with access to their data in a unified format,” said Chris White, President and CEO of ERTH Corporation. “We are pleased to be among the first utilities in Ontario to be certified through the Green Button Alliance, and look forward to deploying Green Button data to our customers within the coming months. Additionally, we are proud to be working with numerous utility partners to facilitate Green Button data for consumers across Ontario.”
The implementation of the Green Button standard comes as the Ontario government marks two years of providing consumers with Customer Choice rates. As of November 1, 2020, most families, small businesses, and farms can select either a time-of-use (TOU) or tiered billing structure for their electricity usage. More than 355,000 Ontario electricity customers have used this choice to better manage their electricity bills by switching their pricing plan to one that is a better fit. Green Button provides families and businesses the information they need to better understand their energy use so they can make an informed decision on which price plan is right for them, helping them to lower their energy bills. This is done by authorizing the sharing of hourly electricity usage data, in a standardized digital format, directly with approved third-party Green Button applications of their choice.
QUICK FACTS:
- Green Button first became available in 2012, and prior to the new regulatory requirement, offering it to customers was voluntary in Ontario for electricity and natural gas utilities.
- In 2015 London Hydro became the first Ontario utility to provide Green Button to their customers. Since its launch, 160,000 electricity and 106,000 water London Hydro customers have utilized Green Button.
- When choosing an electricity billing structure, if a customer limits their consumption to non-peak hours, during evenings and weekends, TOU pricing may be their preferred rate plan. If customers consume most of their electricity during weekday hours, tiered pricing may be a better option for them.
- Energy customers in Ontario who are served by utilities that have fully implemented Green Button have access to a wide range of applications that are tailored to their individual needs. As more utilities in Ontario implement Green Button, new applications are expected to be developed to serve all types of customers, including residential, commercial, and industrial energy users.
- ERTH Corporation partnered with vendors Savage Data Systems, SilverBlaze and NorthStar Utilities Solutions to facilitate Green Button Data access to customers of ERTH Power Corporation.
- ERTH Power Corporation’s Green Button solution successfully achieved the Green Button Alliance’s Certification as compliant to the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) Energy Service Provider Interface (ESPI) version 3.3 specification on June 24, 2022 making it one of the first utilities in Ontario to certify.
ABOUT ERTH POWER CORPORATION:
ERTH Power Corporation provides safe, reliable electricity distribution services to over 25,000 residential and commercial customers within its licensed boundaries. Areas that ERTH Power currently service include the municipalities of Aylmer, Port Stanley, Belmont, Ingersoll, Thamesford, Otterville, Norwich, Burgessville, Beachville, Embro, Tavistock, Clinton, Mitchell, Dublin and Goderich. For further details on ERTH Power Corporation, please visit www.erthpower.com.