NSTAR Signs on to White House “Green Button” Initiative

NSTAR Electric customers will soon be the first in the Northeast to have access to useful, detailed information about their electricity usage as part of the national “Green Button” initiative. Green Button—an industry-led effort that responds to a White House call to action to provide national uniformity for how such information is accessed, delivered and used—will be available to more than one million of NSTAR’s residential and business customers by the end of this month.

“It’s well-known in the industry that knowledge is power when it comes to helping customers make substantive changes in how they use energy,” said Tom May, NSTAR Chairman, President and CEO. “By adding the one-click ease of Green Button to our website, NSTAR is making it even simpler for our customers to access the information they need to take control of their energy use and reduce their carbon footprint.”

Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren thanked utility CEOs for their commitment to empower consumers and foster innovation, especially with their commitments to Green Button. As Secretary Chu has said, “Providing consumers with easy access to data on their energy consumption can help give them the tools they need to make informed decisions about their energy use. Developing applications and services to help consumers understand and control their energy use is a field ripe for American innovation.”

The “Green Button” NSTAR customers will soon find on the company’s website utilizes the common-sense idea promoted by the White House that electricity customers should be able to securely access their own detailed energy usage information from their utility’s website. Armed with that information, they can then use a growing number of web and smartphone tools to make more informed energy decisions, optimize the size and cost-effectiveness of solar panels for their home, or verify that energy-efficiency investments are performing as expected. There are even fun-to-use, innovative apps allowing Facebook friends to compete against each other to save energy and lower their carbon emissions.

For more information about Green Button visit: http://www.greenbuttondata.org/

NSTAR is the largest Massachusetts-based, investor-owned electric and gas utility. The company transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, including more than one million electric customers in 81 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities. For more information, visit www.nstar.com.