In a steering committee meeting last week, the Texas Advanced Meter Implementation Team (AMIT, coordinated by the Texas PUC) took new steps to enable consumers to forward their energy data to third parties who can help them manage their energy use and participate in demand response programs…

Texas has long been at the forefront of the smart grid. This move puts Texas ahead of California, Pennsylvania, and the U.K. — all of which have adopted similar policies, but remain at least a year away from implementation.

SmartGridWatch has followed Texas closely as the state progressed from policy decisions to implementation of retail competition — then on to smart meter deployment, and then ubiquitous meter data access via the internet and home area networks (HANs).

Based on AMIT’s new plans, early next year Texans who have smart meters and are served by one of the four large investor-owned utilities (CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP Texas, and Texas New Mexico Power) will begin seeing the option to share their energy data with third parties.

AMIT also is making excellent progress in slogging through the details required for third-party access to ensure consumer privacy and data security are fully protected — not to mention the business processes to make it all work.

Already, Texans can choose their retail electricity provider — something available in just a handful of states. But even more more importantly, Texas consumers can choose various energy-related options that do not depend on retail competition:

• Data options. Retailers such as Reliant and TXU Energy offer weekly emails showing the prior week’s energy usage, bill to date, and usage comparisons. Reliant customers can send a text message from their phone to obtain some data on demand (last month’s bill, this month’s estimated bill at month end, energy cost, and energy usage). Customers also have online access to all this data and more. Similar options are available to customers of rural cooperative utility Bluebonnet, which is not in the part of Texas that has retail competition.
• Pricing options. When viewing electricity service options for a new residence or business, or simply when considering switching providers, consumers can choose to pay flat rates, obtain off-peak discounts, lock in prices for two years (economists will tell you that this necessarily includes a premium, because risk is being shifted to the retailer), and prepaid service. Prepayment is an attractive option to customers with poor credit or who prefer not to pay a deposit, as well as for customers who want to manage their energy budget more closely. Over 40% of Americans surveyed expressed interest in prepaid electricity service.
• Automation options. Consumers with smart meters consumers can already take advantage of HAN devices, which are managed via the Smart Meter Texas portal. For instance, in-home displays proved especially popular and effective in CenterPoint’s pilot program — 87% of participants said that thanks in part to their IHD they have taken, or plan to take, steps to reduce energy use.

When people think of cleantech and energy innovation, most look to Silicon Valley in California or Route 128 in Massachusetts. In the case of the smart grid, they’d be wrong — especially from a consumer perspective, Texas is where the action is.