Smart Grid Data: Too Much For Privacy, Not Enough For Innovation?

When it comes to smart grid data, how much is enough -- and how much is too much?

That question could pit the IT industry's hopes to use smart grid data to help people save energy -- and make money -- against customer privacy and data security advocates worried that the same data could be abused by everyone from criminals to the government. Utilities, regulators and consumers could well be caught in the middle of that argument. That's the gist of a discussion last week about smart grid privacy at the California Public Utilities Commission, which is forming policies for how the state's utilities implement smart grid systems. One of the issues that the CPUC is tackling is how utilities should be required to deliver power usage and pricing data to smart meter-enabled customers. But beyond the technical and cost questions, there's the looming question of what to do with the data in order to protect utility customers from having their information used against them.