It’s simple: Privacy policies should alleviate smart grid concerns June 23, 2010

Okay, there’s been a lot of talk lately about smart grid-related privacy concerns. In a May 18 Denver Post article, the guy charged with studying the issue for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission went so far as to call the smart grid a “technology that can pierce the blinds.” http://bit.ly/b1Kojq

Pierce the blinds? Really? With comments like that and similar sentiments bandied about, you would think the new smart meter was a revolving video recorder, a robotic device creeping around catching your every move, from how many fat grams you eat and what television shows you watch to how long you shower and what you do in the bedroom. Add smart appliances and thermostats to the mix and you’ve got Big Brother climbing right up your … well, you get the picture.

Okay, once smart grid becomes a reality – and that is many years away for the vast majority of North Americans – the local utility will be able to tell how much energy you use and when you use it.  It is unclear how, despite assertions by “privacy czars” and other “experts” to the contrary, the electric utility will be able to determine when you take showers and for how long. They will know when you come and go. They could make an educated guess as to when you watch television, based on your usage. They will likely be able to tell what times of the day you wash clothes, and what temperature you like to keep the house, not through the meters themselves but through some of the proposed smart appliances and grid-connected thermostats.  

And to all this, I say: Who cares?

What does it really matter if “they” know how many times a day you take a shower, even if they could tell? It’s once for me; mornings usually, though I may hit the shower on a Saturday afternoon if I decide to get out and do yard work in the AM. An extra shower is warranted if I work out, which happens on occasion. I watch television after 9 p.m., mostly Atlanta Braves baseball games.

So, who cares? Whose privacy will really be violated by smart grid? That one takes some thought, but if one really ponders the issue he can probably come up with an example or two that warrant legitimate concerns.   

Chartwell study reveals privacy issue

In fact, there are true privacy concerns with smart grid. Whether real or imagined, and no matter what I think, there is a segment of customers who is distrustful. For utilities, this is where the real issue lies.

Consider this: Chartwell found that 12% of consumers (+/- 5%) believe a smart meter is “a digital electricity meter that gives electric utilities the ability to monitor your movements and activities while you are inside your home.”

This was the definition consumers picked when presented with a handful of definitions of what a smart meter might be, including what we at Chartwell felt was the best definition: “a digital electricity meter that allows electric utilities to automate meter reading, communicate with devices inside customers’ homes and gives them greater intelligence on the distribution grid.” Fortunately, over half of survey respondents picked this one.

Still, 12% of electric customers, when presented with multiple choices, seized on the privacy issue. That’s 18.5 million energy customers, give or take, behind roughly one out of eight meters. The survey was conducted late last year as a launching pad for Chartwell’s Smart Grid Customer Education Research Council, a group of leading utilities that work with Chartwell to address customer concerns around smart grid issues.

In this information age, privacy should be a concern for us all. Google knows what Internet sites you visit; Netflix knows what movies you like; Facebook knows where you work and that you complain openly about your boss; numerous retailers keep tabs on your purchases through “discount cards;” and your mobile phone provider knows who you call and for how long. Utilities are now in that mix, and they need to realize it and address it.

Privacy, though, shouldn’t be a deal breaker for smart grid. A simple privacy policy, stated clearly on utility customers’ energy bills, showing what utilities will do with the data they collect from the smart grid, and what they won’t do with it, such as sell it to marketers or provide a daily log to the police without a proper warrant, should suffice. But due to their nature, utilities are often treated differently than those other businesses I mentioned, and I doubt the more stringent regulatory commissions and special interest activists will let them off the hook that easily.