There is a heated debate occurring right now in the electric utility industry involving the smart grid and its ultimate impact on customer privacy. In theory, a smart grid (smart meter) makes sense because automatic monitoring of electric consumption, as opposed to meter readers making their way to each and every house, saves time and money. Efficiency is a great thing, right? Perhaps not in this case—at least according to privacy advocates and utility customers who feel Big Brother will be watching them.
If you haven’t heard of smart grid, it’s basically the use of smart meters that perform deep analysis on much richer data than meter readers pulled in the past that showed how much electricity was used over a given time period. The smart grid reveals new levels of intelligence on customers and in particular, their personal activities. Instead of just overall usage, it may track time of day usage, where it is coming from inside the house, what kind of device is using the power and so on. As you can see, there is a very real social impact here and utility companies will need to invest significant time in securing and addressing privacy concerns by communicating well and often with customers.
Ever since the HIPAA privacy law went into effect years ago, the public has been more aware of their rights to privacy, not just in health care, but across the board. With all of our personal information accessible online, companies have had to take great care to protect sensitive customer data. And, not doing so has very real legal implications. Utilities are no different. Consumers worry that not only will information about their energy usage at home be shared with third-party marketers, but also with business and government entities. They want to know if they will be taxed or penalized for using too much energy. They also fear insurance companies will use their data to void coverage if something happens in the home as a result of an overused appliance or circuit. Or worse, health insurance rates go up because of the use of an electric device that provides a life function. With so many questions—some legitimate and others more off-the-wall due to lack of knowledge—utilities need to define and clarify what their privacy policies will be and whether and how they share data with certain entities.
Internal communications departments or communications consultants will need to be engaged to ensure personnel are equipped with the latest information about policies related to smart grid/metering. Just like any major change within an organization,
it’s imperative that everyone be on board and have the tools to communicate with their key audiences—both internal and external. Consistent and open communication will be key.
Privacy expert and head of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel Privacy subgroup of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Rebecca Herold, believes complacency is not an option for utilities. She urges utilities and all entities involved in smart grid to have designated people assigned to address privacy issues in an open, objective way and be ready to answer consumer questions.
There remain many unanswered questions on the use of smart grid and how information will be shared and used. For customer buy-in and deployment success, utilities and companies involved in smart grid need to work out how they will manage privacy concerns and coordinate with their communications teams to share those messages. Most people can understand efficiency, but no one wants Big Brother watching them and sharing details of their personal habits.
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Hollie Geitner is vice president, client services for WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @JustHollieG.
