What is Green Button Data?

Green Button Data is an industry led-initiative, responding to a White House call to action to make energy consumption data available to the consumer, which can be utilized for both analysis and planning. Having access to this data empowers an energy consumer to make informed decisions in terms of how they consume and generate their electricity.

All electricity consumers have meters that measure energy consumption which is used by your utility to calculate how much your electricity bill will cost you. The objective of Green Button Data is to provide electricity consumers with easy access to this energy consumption data in a consumer and computer friendly format. Not only will Green Button Data show the consumer how much electricity has been used but also when this electricity has been used in 15 minute intervals.

Across the United States, more than 60 million homes have access to Green Button Data, including customers of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). Green Button Data ensures the customer’s privacy, as it contains no personal identifiable information and is subject to the Green Button Standard, which ensures a consistent data format is used in all energy provider websites.

Benefits of Green Button Data for Designing Solar Systems

Access to Green Button Data allows an energy consumer considering solar to benefit from a solar system designed to meet their specific energy consumption patterns. With access to Green Button Data, a solar project developer can maximize the percentage of your electricity bill which is offset by strategically designing your solar system to the optimum number solar panels required.

Green Button Data will prove particularly valuable with the introduction of the ‘time-of-use’ rate structure, which charges customers based not only how much electricity they use but also when they use it. With access to Green Button Data a solar project developer can ensure that the system is designed to perform when electricity rates are at their highest during on peak time. For more on Time of Use, please read our blog post on the topic.

If a solar company is not incorporating your Green Button Data then they cannot design a system specific to your needs which will provide you with the best return on your investment. Because of the forthcoming changes in the rate structure to time-of-use it is essential that a solar com pay’s project developer has access to not only how much energy you consume but when you consume that energy.

How to access Green Button Data in 6 simple steps for customers of SDG&E

The data is easily accessible through your electric utilities website with a simple click of the ‘Green Button’. If you do not already, you must have an online account with SDG&E which is easy to set up. Simply go to the Register for My Account page and follow the simple instructions to do this. The Green Button is located within the online service, My Account. It’s the same place where you pay your bill, get your forecasted bill for the month and analyze your energy use.

1: Log into My Account

2: Click on the My Energy tab and click on My Energy Overview underneath the My Energy tab.

3: Select the appropriate account from the “Select Account” drop down menu.

4: From the View dropdown menu, select My Energy Use.

5: Click on the Green Button icon located in the upper right corner above the graph.

6: Select the meter and date range you’re interested in and click Export to download.

How to access Green Button Data in 3 simple steps for customers of SCE

1: Log into My Account using your SCE User ID or Email and Password

2: Click on the Green Button Download My Data link in the bottom left corner

3: Set the Download Format to ‘XML Format (.xml)’ and Select Your Account To Download. Click the Download Button and the data will download to your computer

If you have any questions about this please feel free to contact our team at Sullivan Solar Power by calling 1-800-SULLIVAN.