Green Button data
On November 1, 2021, the Ontario Ministry of Energy announced that electricity and natural gas utilities across the province must provide their customers with access to Green Button data no later than November 1, 2023.
Green Button is a data standard that provides utility customers with more choice in how they access their electricity and natural gas data, and in our case also water and wastewater data.
Utilities Kingston is unique in Ontario, as we offer our customers the ability to access their data for four utility services: water, wastewater, natural gas and electricity.
With a simple and secure process, customers can securely download or connect (share) their energy usage data in an industry-standard format with registered third parties. Rest assured, data is shared in accordance with our privacy policy.
Consumer
Green Button Download My Data® (DMD)
The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) standard allows consumers to select-and-download their usage and billing data from their utility provider’s website in an industry-standard XML format.
Green Button Connect My Data® (CMD)
The Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) standard, also referred to as Data Shares, is the industry standard for securely authorizing and sharing utility usage data with registered third-party vendors.
How it works
Watch this short tutorial video to learn how to download or connect your data.
Frequently Asked Questions - Customer
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Green Button
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Green Button is a data standard that provides utility customers with more choice in how you access your utility data. With a simple and secure process, customers will be able to securely download (access) or connect (share) their usage data in an industry-standard format with registered third parties.
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Ontario is providing families and businesses more control over their utility bills with the introduction of the new Green Button Standard that will allow access to their data with a goal of better tracking utility use, reducing bills and saving money.
On November 1, 2021, the Ontario Ministry of Energy announced that electric and natural gas utilities across the province must provide their customers with access to Green Button data no later than November 1, 2023. Read the full news release.
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Green Button provides a unified, industry-standard data format, which can be used to analyze and manage a consumer’s utility usage. The introduction of Green Button industry-standard data across Ontario utilities will provide the foundation for the development of new tools and applications for customers to analyze and monitor their utility usage to reduce costs.
Below are just a few of the benefits of Green Button data:
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Improve energy efficiency – Consumers can use Green Button data to identify and compare their utility usage in order to improve energy-efficiency within their home or business.
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Reduce utility costs - By learning their usage patterns and habits, consumers can make informed choices about how much water and energy they use, and in the case of energy, when they use it. When consumers use energy during off-peak hours (also known as peak-shaving) and invest in energy-efficient appliances, it saves money and can help reduce strain on the grid.
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Water and energy conservation – consumers can use their data to conserve water and energy to help reduce their carbon footprint and protect the environment.
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Green button tools to understand large volumes of energy data will help pave the way for future innovations in the energy sector.
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Many customers are already viewing their utility data through a customer portal on their utility website. With Green Button, third-party apps can analyze the data and provide insights to help customers make sense of their utility use and make informed decisions to help reduce costs.
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With CMD, data is shared on an ongoing basis. This allows third parties to provide insights and alerts on usage trends and changes.
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For customers with a large number of properties across multiple utilities, Green Button provides a standardized format so that the data they receive from each utility is in a similar format. Green Button third parties in the commercial sector are able to analyze large volumes of data across multiple facilities to provide energy management advice.
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With CMD, data is shared on an ongoing basis. This allows third parties to provide insights and alerts on usage trends and changes including monitoring the impact of energy efficiency measures taken.
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Green Button will also make it easier for facilities to complete mandatory government reporting requirements.
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The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) standard allows consumers to select and download their utility usage data from their provider’s website in an industry-standard XML format; consistent across all energy-provider websites.
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You can view and download your Green Button data one of the following ways:
From the Utilities Kingston Website:
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Go directly to the Green Button Portal
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Enter your required account information to validate that you are the account owner (Note: You will need to have a recent bill handy)
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Select the Download My Data tab
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Follow the prompts to select the data you would like to download
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Click Download
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An XML file containing your selected data will be download
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This file can be shared with a third party or uploaded to a Green Button app to view.
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When you download your data, it will be in an industry-standard XML format. Please note that XML files are designed to be read and analyzed by computer applications, not humans.
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When you download your data, you may choose to send it to a third-party vendor yourself or upload it to an application to analyze. As Green Button data becomes widely available across Ontario, more third-party solutions and applications will be developed and made available to analyze the data.
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The Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) standard, also referred to as Data Shares is the industry standard for securely authorizing and sharing utility usage data with registered third-party vendors. With CMD, utility consumers can digitally authorize their usage data to be shared with energy-efficiency applications, clean energy companies, analytics firms, and others, who can view and analyze the data and provide insights into managing and conserving resource consumption.
Example 1: If you are considering installing or have installed solar panels on your home or business, you can connect the solar company to your Green Button usage data to analyze the return on your solar panel investment and make informed decisions about future investments.
Example 2: Commercial or industrial customers with multiple locations across different utility territories can access and analyze energy usage data from all sites in a consistently standardized format.
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Yes, while it is highly encouraged that customers create a MyUtilities login, you can still Connect My Data from authorized third-party vendor websites and using a one-time access sign-in to the Green Button portal.
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Yes, you can stop sharing your data with a third-party vendor at any time. To do so, simply go to the Data Shares tab within the Green Button portal, select the vendor you would like to stop sharing your data with, and click Revoke.
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Utilities Kingston has been certified by the Green Button Alliance. This is the industry standard to ensure compliance with data sharing and security standards.
Third-Party vendors must also be certified by the Green Button Alliance to be authorized as a registered vendor.
Before you authorize a third-party vendor, be sure to carefully read the terms and conditions on their website so that you understand how they will use, share or retain your data.
And rest assured, data is shared in accordance with our privacy policy.
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Third-party Vendor
Third-Party Vendor Registration
This section is for third-party vendors looking to provide Green Button solutions to customers of Utilities Kingston. Customers must initiate Connect My Data (data sharing) through an authorized third-party vendor’s website.
Third-party vendors must register through Utilities Kingston. Please review our Third-Party Terms and Conditions. If you are interested in becoming an authorized third-party vendor, visit the Third-Party Registration Portal to complete the registration form.
Register as a Third-Party Vendor
Frequently Asked Questions - Third-Party Vendor
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Green Button for Third-Party Vendors
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The customer selects the duration for which the data will be shared with an authorized third-party vendor, along with the frequency that the data will be shared. The customer can revoke access at any time.
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Customers are required to make their own authorizations online through one of the authorization methods. The customer must also authenticate with the utility before the security token can be exchanged with the utility and data can be shared.
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Third-party vendors must register through Utilities Kingston. Please review our Third-Party Terms and Conditions, available from our Green Button web page. If you are interested in becoming an authorized third-party vendor, visit the vendor registration portal to complete the registration form.
Learn more at https://utilitieskingston.com/Accounts/greenbutton#third-party-vendor
GREEN BUTTON and the Green Button Logo are registered trademarks owned by Departments of the U.S. Government.
GREENBUTTON CONNECT MY DATA and GREENBUTTON DOWNLOAD MY DATA are registered trademarks owned by the U.S. Department of Energy.