It is a great step forward to see the COAG Energy Council’s consultation paper, Facilitating Access to Consumer Energy Data. I am pleased with the overall direction. I believe we could move faster than the recommended timeframes, but then I am always impatient and believe we should be able to move faster than we actually do.
I made the following key observations in my submission, and would be interested in your thoughts:
- The paper talks about leveraging existing rules and structures where possible to expedite the process. I agree, but I believe some of the recommendations may not be in the best long term interests of the consumer. In that case, existing structures and rules should not be leveraged.
- I was unsure why the distributor, or DNSP, was the recommended party to source and share meter data. Under the new market structure, it makes more sense for the Meter Data Provider, or MDP to source and share the meter data. I submitted a series of reasons as to why the MDP is better positioned to provide this service.
- I agree that AEMO should act as the central hub to manage all transactions. I did question the value in AEMO storing all meter data when the reality is, a small percentage of the population will ever have their energy data accessed. With the proposed model we will be paying large sums to capture and manage a lot of data where the majority of it will never be used to deliver value to consumers. Instead, I wondered if it would be better for AEMO to manage the security and integrity of the transactions.
- I asked to what extent the research has leveraged the work done by the Green Button Alliance (GBA)? If we were to leverage the GBA framework, Australian start-ups would have instant access to the lucrative US market.
- Finally, it was not clear to me the granularity, timeliness, and frequency of data to be made available. I suggested it should start off being in line with current market practices. In other words an approved third party should get access to the data in the same way a Retailer, and Distributor does.
This is a very important initiative that, if well designed, will deliver significant benefits to consumers and our community. Your voice is important. What do you think about the proposals set out in the paper?
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