DOE Releases Privacy Tips for Utility Companies to Protect Consumers

The Department of Energy released recommendations for utility companies to ensure that all customers' energy usage data remains private. The guidelines, known as the Smart Grid Data Privacy Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC), were developed in the past two years after customer concerns about smart metering technology, which were largely exposed in a recent white paper from the American Public Power Association, DOE said Tuesday. Its recommendations aren't mandatory but are viewed as a step toward ensuring customers can't be identified by data collected by the smart meters, said the department.