Georgia Power expands innovative data platform with renewable customers

In today’s rapidly evolving energy landscape, customers are increasingly asking for more granular data about their energy usage. The challenge extends beyond enabling access to data to support sustainability tracking as well as participation in renewable subscription programs.  

An evolving customer need

Many customers have expressed a desire for enhanced transparency in emissions data, especially as they evaluate renewable program engagement and internal reporting needs. They want to streamline internal environmental reporting, combining data regarding their personalized energy usage, emissions and fuel mix with renewable program management in a more centralized platform.

At the system level, Southern Company evaluated a range of options to address this evolving need, including existing internal technology and a variety of marketplace solutions. Critical factors included data quality, the ability to incorporate customer feedback, and flexibility to meet future needs.

An innovative solution

Ultimately, Southern Company’s New Ventures team facilitated a collaboration with Singularity Energy, a portfolio company of Energy Impact Partners, the utility-backed venture capital platform in which Southern Company is a limited partner and co-founder.

Southern Company partnered with Singularity to create a platform that gives customers detailed information about their energy use and emissions. The platform connects to a variety of internal and external data sources, offering hourly updates that include both the energy they generate and the energy they buy, as well as certificates that track clean energy.

The platform matches generation to customer consumption based on contractual relationships and allocation rules to allow for an hourly accounting framework, providing customers with transparent, hourly datasets that includes supply mix matched to consumption and associated energy attribute certificates (EACs) and emissions. Singularity also automates aspects of internal program management and reporting.

A successful pilot

In 2024, Southern Company began a 6-month pilot of the Singularity solution focused on a subset of 10 commercial and industrial customers. The pilot validated the customer archetypes most likely to value hourly historical carbon intensity data and paved the way for a scaled deployment with Georgia Power’s renewable program customers.

“Georgia Power leaned into listening to our customers in order to better understand their sustainability goals and join them on their carbon-free energy journey,” explained Cam Hardin, Georgia Power’s director of customer solutions. “The platform that Singularity helped develop provides customers with hourly energy and emissions data, as well as an overall picture of their sustainability metrics not previously possible. I am excited about continuing to collaborate with our customers to advance energy solutions that matter most to them.”

“Google’s goal is to match the entirety of our hourly electricity consumption with carbon-free energy by 2030,” said Soazig Kaam, technical program manager for Google’s Energy Products, an original pilot participant. “This goes far beyond traditional sustainability goals, requiring detailed electricity and carbon data to measure progress and inform action,” continued Kaam. “The high-quality data we received during our pilot with Georgia Power has enabled us to transition from a carbon-accounting mindset to carbon action.”

“Georgia Power was a true partner in this effort, listening to our needs and involving us early on in the testing of a potential solution,” added Kaam. “This collaboration is a great example of how Google would like to work with utilities and other technology partners to accelerate the energy transition.”