Central Maine Power Joins Industry Effort to Advance Use of "Green Button" Technology
CMP News
Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, Augusta, ME 04336 (207) 622-NEWS
Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com
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Media Contact: Gail Rice (207) 622 NEWS
Central Maine Power Joins Industry Effort to Advance Use of Green Button Technology
Customer access to usage data is key benefit of smart meters
AUGUSTA, Maine, May 14, 2014 Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, joined with utilities from across the country last week to discuss progress on the utility industry's 'Green Button' initiative. Green Button is an industry-led effort to provide electricity customers with easy access to standardized energy use data in a consumer-friendly and computer-friendly format. Customers may download the data into analytical apps that can help them use energy more efficiently.
CMP is among the first utilities in the nation to enable Green Button functionality, which lets customers download their own hourly electricity usage data through CMP's secure website. The service is available to any customer with a smart meter who is enrolled in CMP's Energy Manager program. Energy Manager works with smart meters and allows a customer to see detailed data on their electricity use through a secure on-line system. The program also offers tips to manage energy use and allows customers to compare their own use with that of similar households.
"Research has shown that people want to be able to monitor their energy use, and they expect their utility to provide information to help them control their electric bill,' says Jayme Holland, program manager at CMP. " Our smart meters and related technology are giving consumers the tools and information they need to better manage their energy use, and CMP is proud to be a part of this industry-wide effort."
At last week's meeting in San Antonio, Texas, representatives from CMP and other utilities shared a broad range of experiences with Green Button, including the goals utilities hope to achieve from the program, how it integrates with other technologies, the products and services that use the data, and privacy and regulatory issues.
New price comparison tool available for CMP customers
In addition to Green Button data, CMP customers enrolled Energy Manager now have access to a new price comparison tool. The tool uses data recorded in Energy Manager to analyze up to a year of historical energy use. It distributes historical use into categories for standard flat-rate and time-of-use pricing for both the electricity delivery and supply portions of a customer's bill. Then it shows the customer, based on historical patterns, which pricing option would be the least expensive.
More information on Energy Manager, Green Button, the Price Comparison Tool, and other smart meter benefits can be found at CMP's web site at https://www.cmpco.com/YourAccount/UnderstandingYourBill/smartmeterbenefits.html. Apps that use Green Button data can be found at http://en.openei.org/apps/.
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About Central Maine Power Company (CMP): Central Maine Power Company, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is Maine's largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. The company delivers about 9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually to more than 600,000 homes and businesses, representing about 80% of Maine's annual consumer sales of electricity. The company has been ranked #1 in customer satisfaction six times by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit www.cmpco.com/.
About Iberdrola USA: Iberdrola USA is the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola, S.A. The Iberdrola USA companies employ about 5,000 people with operations in 24 states from New England to the West Coast, providing electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas storage and distribution, and energy services. For more information, please visit our website: www.iberdrolausa.com. Follow us on Twitter: @IberdrolaUSA
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