October 31, 2023

Westario Power officially launched a new Green Button tool that will allow families and businesses across Bruce, Grey, Huron, and Wellington counties to track and control their energy usage and save money on monthly bills.

The implementation of the Green Button standard comes as the Ontario government marks three years of providing consumers with Customer Choice rates. As of November 1, 2020, most families, small businesses, and farms can select either a time-of-use (TOU), tiered, or ultra-low overnight (ULO) billing structure for their electricity usage. Green Button provides families and businesses the information they need to better understand their energy use so they can make an informed decision on which price plan is right for them, helping them to lower their energy bills. This is done by authorizing the sharing of hourly electricity usage data, in a standardized digital format, directly with approved third-party Green Button applications of their choice.

QUICK FACTS:

• When choosing an electricity billing structure, if a customer limits their consumption to non-peak hours, during evenings and weekends, TOU pricing may be their preferred rate plan. If customers consume most of their electricity during weekday hours, tiered pricing may be a better option for them. 
• Energy customers in Ontario who are served by utilities that have fully implemented Green Button have access to a wide range of applications that are tailored to their individual needs. As more utilities in Ontario implement Green Button, new applications are expected to be developed to serve all types of customers, including residential, commercial, and industrial energy users. 
• Westario Power partnered with vendors ERTH Corporation and Savage Data Systems to facilitate Green Button Data access to customers of Westario Power Inc. 
• Westario Power’s Green Button solution successfully achieved the Green Button Alliance’s Certification as compliant to the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) Energy Service Provider Interface (ESPI) version 3.3 specification in October 2023.