By Rory Sweeney

AUSTIN, Texas — If it’s not completely broken, it doesn’t need a complete fix, the Public Utility Commission of Texas decided last week.

The commission has been considering  whether ERCOT should assume oversight of the web portal for customers’ smart meter data or if it should remain under the control of Smart Meter Texas (SMT), an entity created by a coalition of transmission and distribution utilities (Project No. 42786). (See Oversight of Smart Meter Data Debated at ERCOT.)

The commissioners agreed at their open meeting Thursday with a recommendation by PUC staff that it open a rulemaking proceeding to reconcile data discrepancies but also limit operating-cost increases.

According to the staff, transferring authority to ERCOT would ensure that the interval data on SMT matched better with the data the ISO uses for market settlement. However, that move would also increase operating costs while simultaneously reducing the timeliness of delivering consumption data to the market.

The staff recommended that ownership of SMT remain with the transmission companies, but that the rulemaking consider the entity’s governance, performance and funding. Additionally, the data that goes to SMT would come directly from ERCOT so they match.

While all three commissioners agreed with the staff’s plan, Commissioner Kenneth W. Anderson Jr. stressed the importance of carefully delineating third-party access to customers’ data on the site. He told staff “not to languish but to move expeditiously.”

Fixing these issues are “important to the continued development of responsive demand in the ERCOT market,” he continued, adding that new technologies exist to help overcome the problems. Chief among his concerns was maintaining privacy and ensuring that consumers provide “knowing consent” when allowing third parties to access their data.

Chairman Donna L. Nelson cautioned that they not “overregulate and stop this market from evolving” and charged the PUC to “go forth and do good.”