The White House Pushes the Green Button

President Obama’s White House has a self-described energy reform policy of “all-of-the-above,” meaning Obama wants to use all possible means to reduce energy costs to Americans and trim the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Central to the plan is increasing energy efficiency in homes. This is the wheelhouse of Green Button, an industry led effort launched in January in response to the White House’s call to action, which seeks to provide customers with easy access to their own energy usage data. The intent is to provide customers the information they need to make changes to their own energy usage habits and reveal inefficiencies resulting in wasted energy.

In a statement released by the White House this afternoon, President Obama praised nine new utility providers that have opted into the Green Button initiative to supply their customers with valuable information, bringing the commitment up to 27 million consumers. 

Utility and electricity power suppliers making new commitments include:

American Electric Power, serving 5.3 million customers in 11 states (Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia); 

- Austin Energy (News - Alert), serving 400,000 customers in Texas;
- Baltimore Gas and Electric, serving 1.2 million customers in Maryland;
- CenterPoint Energy, serving 1.8 million households in Texas;
- Commonwealth Edison, serving 3.4 million households in Illinois;
- NSTAR, serving 1.1 million households in Massachusetts;
- PECO (News - Alert), serving 1.4 million households in Pennsylvania;
- Reliant, serving 500,000 households in Texas;
- Virginia Dominion Power, serving 2.4 million customers in Virginia and North Carolina.

Green button offers data delivery in a number of forms, including a web and smartphone application to help consumers choose the most economical rate plan for their lifestyle. The majority of utility providers implement the data into their monthly billing statements, but two utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric – have woven it into their Web sites.