States are starting to roll out more $4 billion through the Home Efficiency Rebates (HOMES) Program, a key component of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that provides performance-based rebates for home retrofit projects. To gauge the performance — or energy savings in other words — of home retrofit projects, the program requires access to energy usage data.
The HOMES Program can be implemented through a modeled pathway, measured pathway, or both (and we at Sealed recommend both!). Regardless of what pathway(s) states choose, energy data is paramount.
In the modeled pathway, 12-months of historical energy usage are required (if available) to calibrate energy savings estimates. In the measured pathway, 12-months of historical data are also required, as well as energy usage after the installment of an energy-saving project. This data-driven approach is one of the innovative aspects of the IRA and has the potential to accelerate market transformation.
Yet there’s one hurdle to clear: Most State Energy Offices (SEOs) do not have direct access to utility data. SEOs are typically housed within a state executive agency and most are separate from Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) that regulate utilities (and utility data). This means that SEOs can try and partner with utilities but they don’t always have access to get energy data directly.
At the same time, as part of applying for the HOMES Program, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requires that SEOs develop “Data Access Plans” that provide pathways for the rebate recipients, contractors, aggregators, and the program to share and collect energy data. Getting data without direct access from utilities is therefore key to realizing the true potential of the HOMES rebate program.
Collecting energy data isn’t complicated
The good news is that collecting energy data isn’t complicated. Contractors and other market actors — including Sealed — gather energy data every day. For example, in project scoping, auditors use energy data to create recommendations for what home energy upgrades would save the most energy.
And this energy data is collected in a number of different ways, including:
- Manually by customers providing their utility bills, which can be a reliable way to get energy data for all forms of energy including for delivered fuels.
- Third-party software that provides widespread access to customer-authorized energy data based on utility credentials.
- Utility portals leverage protocols like Green Button Connect can provide energy data directly from utilities.
- Wireless sensors installed at the meter, panel, tank, or device level track energy usage.
No single method of collecting energy data is going to be a silver bullet. That’s why states should take an “all of the above” approach and allow market actors flexibility for how energy data can be collected.
States should put the responsibility of energy data collection on the market
With so many different ways to gather energy data, states should shift the responsibility of data collection to the market. First and foremost, SEOs can design the HOMES Program so that households are required to “opt in” to sharing their data if they want to participate in the program. At the end of the day, energy data belongs to the customer and they can choose to share it or not.
SEOs can then put the responsibility for collecting energy data on market actors like contractors and aggregators for both the HOMES measured and modeled pathways. Or as we like to say at Sealed, contractors and aggregators can be required to BYOD (Bring Your Own Data) to participate in the program. By putting the responsibility for data collection on the market, states can get HOMES programs set up quickly and avoid building something new right off the bat, which may slow down program implementation.
Additionally, energy data should be in a form that can be audited to verify its accuracy and reliability. And SEOs should also ensure they work with program implementers that can be responsible data managers, guaranteeing the safety of a customer’s energy data.
States should use the IRA as an opportunity to make it even easier to share energy data
The IRA is a perfect opportunity for states to make it easier for customers to share their energy data. In fact, this is one of the biggest market transformation opportunities for the IRA rebates that can make a difference long after the IRA dollars are expended.
In principle, the concept of data sharing is easy. But in practice, there can be friction involved in accessing energy data. For example, households often need to look up their credentials, which can lead to delays. (Do you know your username and password with your local utility off the top of your head?) Sealed finds, however, that customers will dig to obtain such information in order to snag a rebate. But even if they find that information, it can take hours, even days, for energy data to be transmitted.
To solve these challenges, more states and utilities are exploring energy data access portals to make sharing data much easier. Just look to Smart Meter Texas or New York’s Integrated Energy Data Resource (IEDR). But setting up such portals requires SEOs to build dialogue with their public utility commissions (PUCs) and utilities. While most states are only in the beginning stages of conversations around data access, SEOs can use the IRA rebates as an opportunity to foster connections between PUCs and utilities to create a path towards a low-friction energy data sharing future.
States can start with “good” energy data and strive for “best”
States can, and should, work to reduce friction in accessing energy data over the course of the HOMES Program. But to get the program started quickly, states can rely on “good” data collected by contractors and/or aggregators, and strive to set up portals and other tools to unlock lower-friction access to energy data. Learnings from the first year of the program can help develop better ideas of where to prioritize investments in data access.
Energy data access is important, but states shouldn’t overthink it. As they are working on their Data Access Plans, states should use templates like the one published by Mission:Data. States should also listen to local contractors and aggregators who have experience collecting this data already as well as learn from states and utilities who have made progress on utility data partnerships.
By focusing on the data access solutions that exist today, states can get their HOMES Programs up and running quickly. At the same time, states can work to create a strategic plan for how additional investments in energy data access will drive broader energy and climate goals.