Hagan on privacy concerns related to smart grid deployment
To help utilities address the privacy issue, two research associates at the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment have developed a model privacy policy. “We identified concerns about privacy as a barrier to smart grid progress,” said Colin Hagan, one of the researchers. “We’ve seen how consumer concern can delay projects or focus attention on them.”
The policy seeks to put a significant amount of control of the data in the utility customer’s hands, said Hagan. “Customers should have the authority to access their information and to restrict access to third parties that are not under contract by the utility.” The policy recognizes that a utility needs access to this information for its billing and outage services, said Hagan.
He has received comments and feedback from a number of utilities, and the policy remains a work in progress. “It will continue to evolve as utilities and other interested parties offer suggestions for improvements,” said Hagan. The model policy is available on the Vermont Law website (http://bit.ly/MnI4cv).
