Press Release | London Hydro First Utility to Obtain GB DMD Certification

London Hydro is the Industry's First Utility to Obtain Green Button Download My Data (DMD) Certification from UL for Multiple Types of Green Button Usage Data

Green Button Alliance's Testing & Certification Program Key to Ensuring Green Button Data Compliance and Interoperability

Orlando, Florida, February 9, 2016 – London Hydro Inc. of London, Ontario, Canada and the Green Button Alliance (GBA), which fosters the development, compliance, and wide-spread adoption of the Green Button standard, today announced that London Hydro is the industry’s first utility to complete the Green Button Alliance's Download My Data (DMD) Testing and Certification process for electricity, natural gas and water usage data. The utility will now be able to provide this information to its customers enabling them to easily access and efficiently manage their own resource consumption while opening opportunities for application vendors.

The Green Button Alliance's Green Button Testing and Certification Program is designed to support and accelerate the development, deployment and adoption of compatible, interoperable Green Button solutions. Certification broadens the Green Button ecosystem and increases the market potential for vendor products. The Alliance's technical staff worked with London Hydro during the certification test preparation, and Alliance founding member UL, a global leader in testing and certification services, conducted the Green Button DMD certification of London Hydro's implementation.

"London Hydro is taking a leadership position by effectively leveraging the full capabilities of the Green Button standard and by becoming the first utility to complete the UL certification process for electricity, natural gas, and water," said Barry Haaser, Executive Director, Green Button Alliance. "This certification validates the certification process and demonstrates the ability of the Green Button standard to not only empower utility customers with their electric usage data, but with their natural gas and water usage data as well."

London Hydro's Green Button DMD certification and "Green Button Certified DMD" mark on its website assures customers and application developers that they can rely on the data they receive and increases consumer engagement by empowering them with solutions that work-together seamlessly.

"London Hydro is committed to providing our customers with software choices to help them manage their energy consumption through the Green Button standard," said Syed Mir, Vice President of Corporate Services and CIO, London Hydro. "Certification is a critical element to ensure compliance to the standard and will lead to more adoption and third-party software development."

"Utilities worldwide can look to London Hydro as an example and see that by certifying their Green Button offerings, they have the opportunity to bring Green Button solutions to market that are compatible and interoperable with other certified Green Button implementations; thus giving their customers reliable Green Button product choices and significantly increasing the market reach for their offerings," said Donald F. Coffin, Technical Manager, Green Button Alliance. "The Green Button Alliance's technical staff works closely with certification applicants to assist them in preparing their solution for certification ensuring a successful testing experience through our founding member UL."

Utilities and energy service providers who have existing Green Button DMD implementations, or who are in the process of developing Green Button DMD offerings, can apply for Green Button DMD certification at http://www.greenbuttonalliance.org/certification.

About Green Button Standards

The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) standard enables home owners and property managers to download their electricity usage data from an energy service provider's website in an industry-standard XML data format. Energy customers can utilize these data to view their historical and present energy usage, analyze trends, and make informed energy-management choices.

Extending upon the Green Button Download My Data (DMD) standard, the Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) standard allows customers to authorize direct, secure transfer of their energy usage data to third parties that can assist them with easily managing and conserving energy. In addition, due to the use of common, standardized Green Button formats, third-party developers are able to rapidly create and offer these products, services, and applications. Green Button standards are based on the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) standard.

About UL 

UL is a premier global independent safety science company that has championed progress for more than 120 years. Its nearly 11,000 professionals are guided by the UL mission to promote safe working and living environments for all people. UL uses research and standards to continually advance and meet ever-evolving safety needs. We partner with businesses, manufacturers, trade associations and international regulatory authorities to bring solutions to a more complex global supply chain. For more information about our certification, testing, inspection, advisory and education services, visit http://www.UL.com.

About Green Button Alliance

The Green Button Alliance (GBA) is a non-profit corporation formed to foster the development, compliance, and wide-spread adoption of the Green Button standard. The Green Button Alliance advances the Green Button initiative, a White House-inspired challenge to the electric utility industry to give consumers access to their energy usage information in a downloadable, standardized format. The Green Button initiative was created with the support of the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), and the Utility Communications Architecture International Users Group (UCAIug). The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) and Connect My Data (CMD) standards are based on the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) standard. For more information, or to join the Green Button Alliance, please visit http://www.greenbuttonalliance.org.

About London Hydro Inc.

London Hydro is a Local Distribution Company that services the city of London, Ontario, Canada. With a peak load of 719 megawatts, we deliver a safe and reliable supply of electricity to over 152,549 customers from the residential, institutional, commercial and industrial sectors, through 2,820 kilometres of overhead and underground cables, spanning 420 square kilometres of service territory. London Hydro is a leading North American utility in founding the Green Button Alliance as well as in deploying Green Button standard technologies to provide customers with universal solutions.

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