Get ready for the green button

Glendale residents may soon be getting another technology device for their electricity-tracking arsenal.

In addition to the near-real time reports customers will be able to access online — thanks to smart meters and print-outs mailed to residents comparing their electricity use to similar customers — Glendale Water & Power is also gearing up to offer an app-friendly way to communicate data.

Glendale Water & Power is one of a handful of utilities to offer the “Green Button” technology, endorsed by the Obama administration. The button is another way to increase consumer control over energy use in ways that allow people to pinpoint waste, according to the utility.

The initiative streamlines how electricity companies format user data. Uniformity helps companies create new smart phone, iPad and other applications. Customers who get a new application can input their personal data by clicking on a green button on glendalewaterandpower.com starting this summer.

“It’s to stir other companies to develop applications for consumers,” said Craig Kuennen, Glendale Water & Power marketing manager. “We don’t know exactly what those will be yet… There are lots of people out there that are very creative.”

The utility has installed roughly 120,000 smart meters throughout the city. The meters transmit energy use via digital signals.