Sawnee EMC Joins 'Green Button' Initiative

Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) and its customer information service provider, National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC), jointly announce that NISC has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the development and deployment of 'Green Button,' a consumer centric energy information sharing approach. 

The 'Green Button' initiative is designed to provide electric utility consumers with convenient access to their detailed energy usage data in a common, computer-friendly format, so they can better manage their energy consumption.

"We know that our members can make better short term and long term energy usage decisions when they know how much they are using during certain times, said Sawnee EMC’s President and CEO, Michael A. Goodroe, in a release.

"Our members want to use their energy dollar wisely and by providing them with this energy usage data, in a convenient format, we know they will."

NISC will develop and test various interfaces designed to facilitate the dissemination of 'Green Button' formatted energy data, and in doing so, has chosen to collaborate with Sawnee and only one other host utility in the U.S. during this endeavor. 

The information technology company will develop processes allowing utilities, such as Sawnee, to learn how to best address key aspects of the 'Green Button' process and more specifically, how to deal with items such as consumer access and use of energy data. Researchers will study the effectiveness of the 'Green Button' data, as well as identify and address the challenges of implementing a standards-based method for accessing a utility’s secured billing system. 

Sawnee EMC has been a national leader in this market for more than two years by making detailed energy usage data available to its members, via the Internet and smart phone apps, on a “near real” time basis. This data has empowered Sawnee members to see where their energy is going and what they can do to conserve.

"We want our members to use only the energy they need," said Blake House, vice president of member services. “When we began placing our members’ hourly energy data on our website and leveraged it to their smart device, it empowered them like never before. It was a true industry game changer."

No firm date is currently available for the deployment of Green Button to Sawnee EMC members; but regular updates are planned on the website.

To learn more about the 'Green Button' program, visit the U.S. Department of Energy’s website.