Governor signs Rep. Smith's consumer energy-use privacy bill
A bill sponsored by Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, that would provide a statewide minimum privacy policy to prevent consumers' energy use from being disclosed without their permission was signed into law Monday by Gov. Jay Inslee.
House Bill 1896 prohibits utilities from selling or disclosing private customer energy-use information without the customer's consent.
"As the technology for delivering services to consumers advances, it is crucial that the government ensures adequate consumer protections to mitigate the inherent risks," said Smith. "People's energy usage is valuable to third parties who want to profit, but that is personal information and is private and must remain that way."
Currently, investor-owned utilities are subject to data privacy policies as enforced by the state Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), but public utility districts (PUDs) and other power providers are not. Smith's bill would extend the policies to the PUDs and other services collecting energy data within homes.
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For more information about Rep. Smith, visit: www.representativenormasmith.com.
Rep. Smith's media:
www.houserepublicans.wa.gov
461 John L. O'Brien Building
P.O. Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600
