This is part two of a six-part series offering a comprehensive guide into the 6 Must-Have Requirements For Getting Meter Data With A Utility API.

Here are the six parts:

1. 6 Must-Have Requirements For Getting Meter Data With A Utility API (Summary)

2. Utility API Must-Haves #1: Coverage, Utility Bill Data & Interval Meter Data

3. Utility API Must-Haves #2: Customer Experience For Accessing Utility Data

4. Utility API Must-Haves #3: Reliable Utility Data Management

5. Utility API Must-Haves #4/5: Dev Friendly Meter Data Collection & Security

6. Utility API Must-Haves #6: Total Cost Of Ownership

Utility Support

Having good coverage across multiple utilities sounds simple but can be tricky to compare across different potential solutions. If one solution doesn’t cover all your customers’ utilities, you’ll need a combination of multiple solutions. The good news is that coverage typically grows as solution providers expand their “support roadmap.”

Electric Meter Data

• 165 Million Electricity Meters: In the U.S., most customers are served by a handful of large investor-owned utilities (IOUs). Per EIA.gov, 72% of electric customers are served by 168 utilities while the rest are covered by a long tail of smaller utilities.

• Coverage Confusion: One provider might say they support 50 utilities, another says 100—but they could be covering the same share of U.S. customers.

• Pro Tip: Focus on the percentage of total U.S. electric meters a solution covers instead of raw utility counts.

How to Compare Coverage using percentage of total U.S. electric meters

1. Map Zip Codes to Utilities: Use a dataset showing which utility serves each zip code, plus how many total meters each utility has.

2. Ask Solution Providers for Their Utility Coverage By Zip Code/EIA utility:

3. Calculate Percentage of Meters Covered: This yields a straightforward apples to apples comparison of coverage across solutions.

Gas Meter Data

Gas coverage data isn’t as robust as electric, but roughly 73 million customers have natural gas service. The top 50 gas utilities serve about 75% of customers. Make sure any solution you choose also covers your key gas utilities, if relevant.

Utility Support Roadmaps & Adding Coverage

Utility coverage is never set in stone. Ask about a solution’s current coverage, their roadmap, and whether they can add new utilities you need. Often, solutions will prioritize new utility integrations when there’s enough customer demand.

What is Utility Data? – Data Types

When we talk about “utility data management,” we’re really talking about getting the right data for your use case—which can vary by location or utility. It’s easy to get lost in a maze of different formats from different providers. Ideally, you want a single solution that delivers:

• Utility Bill Data

• Interval Meter Data via Green Button (15-minute, 30-minute, hourly or daily smart meter data collection)

• Utility Account Information

…all in a consistent format (JSON, CSV), so you can build once and scale easily.

Utility Bill Data

Bills are full of insights on a customer’s energy usage and costs. Unfortunately, getting them is difficult and requires:

• Asking customers to upload copies of their utility bill or

• Using a service that logs into the customer’s utility site on their behalf then downloads, cleans and standardizes the bill data

Either way, once you have the raw bill (PDF) or structured data, you can parse out what you need.

Must Have Utility Bill Data

• Bill PDF: Even if the solution doesn’t provide 100% of the data you need, getting the PDF lets you parse it yourself

• Dates: Bill issue date plus the start/end dates for each meter’s billing period

• Energy Consumption: Electric consumption (kWh) and gas consumption (therms or CCF)

• Financial amounts: Total due, outstanding balance, total for electricity or gas

• Account numbers, meters and tariffs: To link everything to the right customer, meter, and rate plan

Nice to Have/Niche Utility Bill Data

Depending on your use case you might also need:

• Solar Details: Rooftop/community solar generated and bill credits

• Low-Income Programs: Indicators for LIHEAP or other low-income billing arrangements

• Budget Billing: Utility payment smoothing programs

• Time-of-Use (TOU) Windows: TOU tariff periods and consumption breakdowns

• Energy Demand (kW) and Power Factor: Peak demand data, if applicable

• Demand Response / VPP: Participation info for programs like virtual power plants or demand response

• 3rd-Party Retail Suppliers: Supplier names and rates separate from the main utility

While the solution provider might not provide this data, you can parse it yourself because you have the utility bill PDF.

Smart Meter Data via Green Button

There are over 119 million smart meters in the U.S. capable of providing 15-minute, 30-minute, hourly or daily usage data. This interval meter data is more widely available than most people think—especially for electricity. Access typically comes from a utility’s website using Green Button Download My Data (DMD) or Green Button Connect My Data (CMD), either manually or automatically (with customer permission). Most utilities only provide consumption intervals (kWh or therms/CCF), but sometimes also include solar generation or other details like cost. A solution provider should automate Green Button data access and deliver everything in a standardized format.

Utility Account Information

Account details link customer utility bills and interval meter data while outlining key information like utility programs. Standardizing this info ensures you can correctly attribute data to the right customer meters, addresses, and rates. Key data includes:

• Account Hierarchy: Mapping utility account numbers, meter IDs, addresses, etc.

• Program Participation: Solar net metering (NEM), community solar, budget billing, LIHEAP, and more.

• Tariffs / Rate Plans: The rate schedule each meter follows (time-of-use, flat rate, demand charges) to ensure accurate cost calculations or optimization

Key Questions for Potential Solution Providers

• Broad Utility Support

  • Which utilities (electric, gas, etc.) do you currently support—and plan to support soon?

  • What percentage of U.S. electric meters do you cover?

  • Can you map your coverage to the zip codes or EIA utility IDs I care about?

  • How do you add new utilities and how long does it usually take?

  • Are there any volume requirements or specific conditions to add more coverage?

• What is Utility Data? – Data Types

  • Do you provide the actual bill PDF?

  • Which utility bill data fields do you include?

  • Where are you able to pull interval meter data from, and how granular (15 min, 30 min, hourly, daily) is it?

  • How many months of historical meter data do you provide?

  • Is the data model consistent across utilities, or does it vary?

Wrap Up

If you have any questions about implementing a utility API or would like more details on how these requirements fit your unique use case, schedule a call with James (Bayou’s CEO). We’d love to learn more about what you’re building and how we might be able to help.

To continue reading, Here are the six parts of this series:

1. 6 Must-Have Requirements For Getting Meter Data With A Utility API (Summary)

2. Utility API Must-Haves #1: Coverage, Utility Bill Data & Interval Meter Data

3. Utility API Must-Haves #2: Customer Experience For Accessing Utility Data

4. Utility API Must-Haves #3: Reliable Utility Data Management

5. Utility API Must-Haves #4/5: Dev Friendly Meter Data Collection & Security

6. Utility API Must-Haves #6: Total Cost Of Ownership