Welcome to the Plug Intervals FAQ page! Here, you'll find answers to the most commonly asked questions about the Plug Intervals product. Our FAQ is designed to provide quick and clear information to help you get the most out of our product offering. If you can't find what you're looking for, our support team is always ready to assist you.

Product FAQs

What is Plug Intervals and what can I use the interval data for?
Plug Intervals enables you access to your customers energy usage information at a very granular level (down to every 15 minutes). We collect this data from provider websites using the web login credentials. You can use this data for a variety of use-cases including, but not limited to, solar modeling, demand response program efficiency validation and site energy usage optimization.

Does Plug Intervals collect data across all kinds of energy?
No, currently Plug Intervals only supports the electric service type. We intend to expand support for additional service types in the future.

Provider FAQs

Do all providers publish interval data?
No, while the list of providers that publish interval data is growing every year, not all do at the moment.

Where is the data collected from?
Providers collect interval data of electric usage from AMI meters and make this data available to their customers. We leverage this existing utility infrastructure using the customer credentials that you submit.

Do all electric meters of providers have interval data?
Intervals can only be accessed from sites where the AMI meters have been installed. If a site has an old analog meter, utilities don't have access to interval data for that meter. Providers are in the process of switching all their customers to the new AMI meters. For each meter, we include a status flag that will be set to INTERVALS_NOT_SUPPORTED with status detail as INTERVALS_NOT_PUBLISHED for cases where a meter does not have intervals.

Do providers publish intervals data real time?
No, most providers publish this data with a delay of 2-3 days. Some providers may even publish this data weekly or monthly. Estimates of latency in publishing data have been defined on the provider coverage page

Which providers do we support in Plug Intervals?
The Plug Intervals provider coverage page lists the providers we collect intervals for. Note that we are rapidly expanding our provider coverage and hence this page gets updated frequently with additional providers. For every meter we discover behind the credentials, we include a status flag that will be set to INTERVALS_NOT_SUPPORTED with status detail as PROVIDER_NOT_SUPPORTED for cases where a meter belongs to a provider we currently do not support for intervals.

A secondary provider meter status shows as not supported. Is this a limitation?
No, this is not a limitation. In deregulated markets (Like California and Texas), the customer Credential may be of a Pass through provider, also called Community Choice Aggregators (CCA) or Retail Energy Partners (REP). In such a scenario, we discover 2 sets of Accounts and Meters; 1 for the Pass through provider (example Central Coast Community Energy) and other for the Publisher (example Pacific Gas & Electric). Interval data will be accessible by activating the Meter belonging to the Publisher provider. The other Meter belonging to the Pass through provider will show status as PROVIDER NOT SUPPORTED.

Data Collection FAQs

How do I request interval data for a meter?
Once you submit the customers credentials, we discover all Accounts and Meters related to the Credential and make them available to you. You can view these through the Plug Dashboard or by using the Plug API. You can select the Meter you require intervals for and activate the meter. In the Dashboard, this is as easy as clicking a toggle. In the API, you make a PATCH request to the Meter endpoint to set the isIntervalsProductActive field to true. Interval data collection for a meter starts immediately once the meter is activated.

How much historical data is collected once the meter is activated?
1 year of historical data is collected on meter activation.

How frequently is new data collected?
We try to make new data available as soon as published by the provider. However, based on the provider the meter belongs to, the frequency of publishing data may vary.

How do I know if data has been collected for the meter?
You can check the status and status detail of the meter to verify if data is collected. When you activate the meter, the status of the meter changes to INTERVALS_IN_PROGRESS. Once the data collection is successful, the status changes to INTERVALS_SUCCESS. Alternatively, use the Meter.lastIntervalAt field to identify if data is available. A non-null value indicates availability of data. The actual datetime value of the field indicates how recent the data is.

How soon after meter activation is data available?
Post meter activation, interval data is generally available within 30 minutes but it may take longer if there are unexpected issues during data collection.

How can I access the interval data?
Interval data can be accessed via the API only using the List Intervals endpoint. The Plug Dashboard shows a daily graph of interval data.

What is the date format used for the delivered data?
All data is delivered in UTC timezone.

What is the API response endpoint for intervals data
The API reference document details the API endpoint for interval data

How do i know what duration of interval data is available for a meter?
Whenever new data is collected for a meter, a webhook notification is sent for the meter that contains the earliestIntervalAt (and latestIntervalAt) values for the meter. Alternately, you can query the intervals endpoint for the most recent day's data and check the value of earliestIntervalAt in the metadata section of the API response.

What period of interval data is returned by the API?
The API returns 1 year of data by default. The meter may have additional data older than 1 year. Use the startAt parameter to retrieve this data if needed. Setting the startAt parameter to the earliestIntervalAt for the meter will return all interval data that has been collected for the meter.

Data quality FAQs

Why are there gaps in the data?
Gaps in data exist because the provider did not provide data for those intervals during the time of collection. Providers do sometimes go back and update data or add data that was previously missed. In a future release, we we will periodically check for updates to previously published data and backfill the gaps if provider has provided new data.

Why is data for yesterday not available?
Most providers generally publish data with a lag of 2-3 days while some take even longer. While we try to collect data as soon as provider has published, the availability of latest data is dependent on the frequency of publishing data by the provider.

Why is the most recent days data available only for half the day when full days data is available on the website?
Providers sometimes publish data in batches. At the time the data collection was completed, the provider may have only published partial data and then published the rest later. This is not a concern as the next day, we will ensure to collect whatever new data has been published by the provider to ensure any data is not missed.

How does Plug Intervals ensure data reliability?
Providers update previously published data or may have data missing for some timestamps that they later backfill. Our system is designed to account for such scenarios using a lookback period. Every time we collect new data for a meter, we also check if updates have been made to previously published data or any missing records have since been backfilled within the lookback period. We ensure to capture all such changes and reflect them in our system so that the data you collect via our APIs always mirrors the latest data available on the provider website. The lookback period in our system is defined per provider based on their patterns of data updates and backfills to ensure minimal chances of any update being missed.

Data delivery FAQs

What are the different ways in which interval data can be accessed from the plug platform?
Currently, we only support data delivery via APIs. The plug intervals guide shows how you can integrate your system with our APIs to access the data.

What is the difference between the Intervals API endpoint and the Normalized Intervals API endpoint?
The Intervals API endpoint returns the data as we collect it from the utility (raw utility published data). We do not make any transformations to the data. The normalized version of the interval endpoint makes API integration simpler by consistently delivering data of 15 minute intervals irrespective of the length of timestamp in the source data collected from utility.

How is missing data handled in the Normalized Intervals API endpoint?
There may be timestamps for which the utility has not published any interval data. These timestamps would be missing in the raw Intervals API endpoint. The Normalized Intervals endpoint fills these missing records with null values. Hence, when working with the Normalized Intervals endpoint, your integration only needs to handle null values appropriately without having to worry about identifying missing interval durations.

Will the Normalized Intervals API response only return 15 minutes data timestamps?
Yes, the Normalized Intervals API response only returns 15 minutes data timestamps. This is the most common granularity with which utilities publish interval data, especially for commercial meters.

How are the startAt and endAt fields in the Normalized Intervals API response different from the earliestIntervalAt and the latestIntervalAt fields?
The startAt and endAt fields correspond to the start and end time of the intervals included in the API response. The earliestIntervalAt and the latestIntervalAt correspond to the first and last record available for the meter. There may be more interval data available for the meter than returned in a given API call based on the duration of data collected or parameters passed in the API call to retrieve interval data of only a certain duration.

Smart Meter Texas(SMT) FAQs

What is Smart Meter Texas ?

Smart Meter Texas (SMT) is a platform managed by the 4 Texas utilities (Centerpoint, Oncor, AEP Central/North, and Texas New Mexico Power) that publishes interval data for meters installed in the Texas ERCOT region. Plug intervals now supports collection of interval data using SMT.

What is required to collect interval data from the Smart Meter Texas portal?

In order to collect interval data from the Smart Meter Texas(SMT) APIs, you must first register as a third party company with SMT. Please reach out to your AM's for support if needed on this process. If you already have a account setup with SMT, Plug intervals can integrate with the account and does not need a new account setup.

Is the credential submission different for Smart Meter Texas?

Yes, unlike other utilities for which utility credentials are required for data collection, for Smart Meter Texas, the end-user only needs to submit the Meter number, ESI ID and their email address in order to authorize us to collect interval data for their meter.

Why is email address required to be submitted by the end-user?

When we initiate a new energy data sharing agreement with Smart Meter Texas for the requested meter, SMT first sends an email to the end-user asking the end-user to authorize the access. Only once the end-user has authorized access does SMT allow our system to collect interval data.

What is ESI ID and where can i find the ESI ID for a meter?

Electric Service Identifier(ESI) ID is a unique identifier of a meter service address. The meter number may change if the meter at the service address is replaced, however, the ESI ID remains unique for the service address. This information is available on the monthly bill. It is generally a 17-23 digit number.

How soon after meter details submission is data available?
After meter details submission, the end-user will receive an email from SMT requesting authorization to grant Plug access to their data. Once the end-user has granted access, data should be available via the API within a few minutes.

How can I access the interval data?
Interval data can be accessed via the API using the same List Intervals endpoint or the Normalized Intervals endpoint as for any other provider.

What period of interval data is collected from Smart Meter Texas?
We collect 1 year of data from the portal once the end-user authorizes the request and then new data on a daily basis as published by Smart Meter Texas.

How long does the end-user authorization of data access last?

The end-user authorization of data access lasts for 1 year. Smart Meter Texas (SMT) sends a new email to re-authorize the request 1 month before token expiry so that data access is not disrupted.

How do I know if I'm waiting on an end-user to grant email approval for interval data?

The status and statusDetail field of the meter and associated account and credential would indicate if a meter is pending on end-user email approval. All details about status and status detail fields can be found on this link.

What inputs would Connect request from the end-user if they selects a Texas Retail Energy Provider(REP) as the provider?

For the Texas ERCOT region, interval data collection would be via the Smart Meter Texas portal while statement data collection would be through the utility website. Accessing interval data via the SMT portal for a Texas Retail Energy Provider(REP) meter would require the end-user to submit the ESI ID, meter number and email address while accessing statement data for the same meter would require the end-user to submit their utility credentials.

You can customize the connect flow to show the end-user the right input to be submitted by using the "useCaseLimit" query parameter. By setting this parameter to "intervals", connect will show the end-user a screen to submit the ESI ID, meter number and email address required for collecting interval data from the Smart Meter Texas portal. Setting this field to "statements" would show the end-user a screen to submit their utility credentials. If you do not customise connect with this field, the end-user would be asked whether they want to collect monthly bill data(statement) or granular meter readings(interval data).

More details on customizing connect can be found on this link.