Naperville, Illinois is a nice place — in fact, in three of the past six years Money Magazine ranked it among the top five best American places to live. So it’s not surprising that Naperville is taking a leading role in the smart grid by moving forward with an aggressive smart grid initiative.

This program, which is partly funded by a US Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant, includes its own Smart Grid Customer Bill of Rights.

Here’s what their bill of rights covers…

Naperville lists four basic rights for utility customers who receive smart meters and participate in smart grid projects:

1. Right To Be Informed about pricing options, outage information, peak demand, and energy consumption habits via a “convenient user interface.”
2. Right To Options for fixed and time-based pricing programs, for receiving information, for purchasing and using devices (such as Home Area Network devices), and for understanding and controlling electricity usage.
3. Right To Privacy of personal and energy consumption information — including that customers get to retain control of their in-home appliances and devices. Customers also have the right to consent to disclosure of their energy information to third parties.
4. Right To Data Security. Utilities serving Naperville customers must have a data security plan. Also, customers have the right to a “functioning electric meter and customer web portal that will provide secure, confidential, and accurate electricity consumption data.”

This list is a terrific starting point — but it could be expanded.

For example, a smart grid bill of rights also could declare that utility customers have the right to improved electric system reliability, greater grid efficiency, and expanded support for renewables via smart grid deployment.

What would you like to see in a smart grid bill of rights? Send your suggestions to me at SmartGridBillofRights@gmail.com.

…For now I’d be quite happy if my own utility (Pacific Gas & Electric) provided me with the four elements of Naperville’s vision. That might not make my home town, Berkeley CA, one of the top five US cities — but it would bring us closer.