I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1980 

To enhance consumer access to electricity information and allow for the 

adoption of innovative products and services to help consumers manage 

their energy usage. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2015 

Mr. WELCH (for himself and Mr. CARTWRIGHT) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To enhance consumer access to electricity information and 

allow for the adoption of innovative products and services 

to help consumers manage their energy usage. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Consumer 

5 Energy Information Act’’ or the ‘‘E–Access Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec8 retary of Energy. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONSUMER ACCESS TO ELECTRIC ENERGY INFOR2 MATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall encourage 

4 and support the adoption of policies that allow electricity 

5 consumers access to their own electricity data. 

6 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR STATE ENERGY PLANS.—Sec7 tion 362(d) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 6322(d)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

10 the semicolon at the end; 

11 (2) by redesignating paragraph (17) as para12 graph (18); and 

13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(17) programs— 

16 ‘‘(A) to enhance consumer access to and 

17 understanding of energy usage and price infor18 mation, including consumers’ own residential 

19 and commercial electricity information; and 

20 ‘‘(B) to allow for the development and 

21 adoption of innovative products and services to 

22 assist consumers in managing energy consump23 tion and expenditures; and’’. 

24 (c) VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR ELECTRIC CON25 SUMER ACCESS.— 

26 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 (A) RETAIL ELECTRIC ENERGY INFORMA2 TION.—The term ‘‘retail electric energy infor3 mation’’ means— 

4 (i) the electric energy consumption of 

5 an electric consumer over a defined time 

6 period; 

7 (ii) the retail electric energy prices or 

8 rates applied to the electricity usage for 

9 the defined time period described in clause 

10 (i) for the electric consumer; 

11 (iii) the estimated cost of service by 

12 the consumer, including (if smart meter 

13 usage information is available) the esti14 mated cost of service since the last billing 

15 cycle of the consumer; and 

16 (iv) in the case of nonresidential elec17 tric meters, any other electrical informa18 tion that the meter is programmed to 

19 record (such as demand measured in kilo20 watts, voltage, frequency, current, and 

21 power factor). 

22 (B) SMART METER.—The term ‘‘smart 

23 meter’’ means the device used by an electric 

24 utility that— 


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1 (i)(I) measures electric energy con2 sumption by an electric consumer at the 

3 home or facility of the electric consumer in 

4 intervals of 1 hour or less; and 

5 (II) is capable of sending electric en6 ergy usage information through a commu7 nications network to the electric utility; or 

8 (ii) meets the guidelines issued under 

9 paragraph (2). 

10 (2) VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR ELECTRIC

11 CONSUMER ACCESS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

13 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

14 subject to subparagraph (B), the Secretary 

15 shall issue voluntary guidelines that establish 

16 model standards for implementation of retail 

17 electric energy information access in States. 

18 (B) CONSULTATION.—Before issuing the 

19 voluntary guidelines, the Secretary shall— 

20 (i) consult with— 

21 (I) State and local regulatory au22 thorities, including the National Asso23 ciation of Regulatory Utility Commis24 sioners; 


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1 (II) other appropriate Federal 

2 agencies, including the National Insti3 tute of Standards and Technology; 

4 (III) consumer and privacy advo5 cacy groups; 

6 (IV) utilities; 

7 (V) the National Association of 

8 State Energy Officials; and 

9 (VI) other appropriate entities, 

10 including groups representing com11 mercial and residential building own12 ers and groups that represent demand 

13 response and electricity data devices 

14 and services; and 

15 (ii) provide notice and opportunity for 

16 comment. 

17 (C) STATE AND LOCAL REGULATORY AC18 TION.—In issuing the voluntary guidelines, the 

19 Secretary shall, to the maximum extent prac20 ticable, be guided by actions taken by State and 

21 local regulatory authorities to ensure electric 

22 consumer access to retail electric energy infor23 mation, including actions taken after consider24 ation of the standard established under section 


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1 111(d)(19) of the Public Utility Regulatory 

2 Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)(19)). 

3 (D) CONTENTS.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—The voluntary 

5 guidelines shall provide guidance on issues 

6 necessary to carry out this subsection, in7 cluding— 

8 (I) the timeliness and specificity 

9 of retail electric energy information; 

10 (II) appropriate nationally recog11 nized open standards for data; 

12 (III) the protection of data secu13 rity and electric consumer privacy, in14 cluding consumer consent require15 ments; and 

16 (IV) issues relating to access of 

17 electric energy information for owners 

18 and managers of multitenant commer19 cial and residential buildings. 

20 (ii) INCLUSIONS.—The voluntary 

21 guidelines shall include guidance that— 

22 (I) retail electric energy informa23 tion should be made available to elec24 tric consumers (and third-party desVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 May 05, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1980.IH H1980

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1 ignees of the electric consumers) in 

2 the United States— 

3 (aa) in an electronic ma4 chine readable form, without ad5 ditional charge, in conformity 

6 with standards developed through 

7 a voluntary, consensus-based, 

8 multistakeholder process; 

9 (bb) in as close to real-time 

10 as is reasonably practicable; 

11 (cc) at the level of specificity 

12 that the data is transmitted by 

13 the meter or as is reasonably 

14 practicable; and 

15 (dd) in a manner that pro16 vides adequate protections for the 

17 security of the information and 

18 the privacy of the electric con19 sumer; 

20 (II) electric utilities should, when 

21 a smart meter is servicing a con22 sumer, communicate energy usage in23 formation to a device or network of an 

24 electric consumer or a device or net25 work of a third party authorized by 


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1 the consumer, and where feasible 

2 should provide to the consumer or 

3 third-party designee, at a minimum, 

4 access to usage information (not in5 cluding price information) of the con6 sumer directly from the smart meter 

7 in as close to real-time as is reason8 ably practicable; 

9 (III) retail electric energy infor10 mation should be provided by the elec11 tric utility of the consumer or such 

12 other entity as may be designated by 

13 the applicable electric retail regulatory 

14 authority; 

15 (IV) retail electric energy infor16 mation of the consumer should be 

17 made available to the consumer 

18 through a website or other electronic 

19 access authorized by the electric con20 sumer, for a period of at least 13 

21 months after the date on which the 

22 usage occurred; 

23 (V) consumer access to data, in24 cluding data provided to owners and 

25 managers of commercial and multiVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 May 05, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1980.IH H1980

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1 family buildings with multiple tenants, 

2 should not interfere with or com3 promise the integrity, security, or pri4 vacy of the operations of a utility and 

5 the electric consumer; 

6 (VI) electric energy information 

7 relating to usage information gen8 erated by devices in or on the prop9 erty of the consumer that is trans10 mitted to the electric utility should be 

11 made available to the electric con12 sumer or the third-party agent des13 ignated by the electric consumer; and 

14 (VII) the same privacy and secu15 rity requirements applicable to the 

16 contracting utility should apply to 

17 third-party agents contracting with a 

18 utility to process the customer data of 

19 that utility. 

20 (E) REVISIONS.—The Secretary shall peri21 odically review and, as necessary, revise the vol22 untary guidelines to reflect changes in tech23 nology, privacy needs, and the market for elec24 tric energy and services. 

25 (d) VERIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State may submit to the 

2 Secretary a description of the data sharing policies 

3 of the State relating to consumer access to electric 

4 energy information for certification by the Secretary 

5 that the policies meet the voluntary guidelines issued 

6 under subsection (c)(2). 

7 (2) ASSISTANCE.—Subject to the availability of 

8 funds under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall make 

9 Federal amounts available to any State that has 

10 data sharing policies described in paragraph (1) that 

11 the Secretary certifies meets the voluntary guidelines 

12 issued under subsection (c)(2) to assist the State in 

13 implementing programs described in section 

14 362(d)(17) of the Energy Policy and Conservation 

15 Act. 

16 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

18 this subsection $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2016, to 

19 remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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