Kentucky’s largest electric utility has saved tens of millions of dollars in recent years by installing more than 1 million digital “smart” utility meters at homes and businesses in large part by being able to check the meters remotely for energy usage, disconnections and reconnections.
But a national nonprofit argues that while the utility reaps those cost savings, a key energy-saving tool for ratepayers made possible through those smart meters is “non-functional”, leading to almost no one using it.
That Seattle-based nonprofit Mission:data coalition audits and critiques utilities on the functionality of the Green Button Connect tool, which allows ratepayers to share their real-time utility usage data with a third party, such as an energy efficiency firm or a rooftop solar installer to help a ratepayer save money on their utility bill. The tool is a part of the Green Button program first launched in 2012…