With the recent regulatory and legislative changes transforming the electric power industry from vertically integrated and monopolistic to deregulated and competitive, ASHRAE is interested in exploring the issues of communication standardization for utility/customer information services. The motivation is similar to the motivation for creating SPC 135 and the BACnet® standard.1 Open systems and interoperability across multi-vendors’ hardware provides opportunities for innovation in advanced controls technologies that reduce operation and maintenance costs and improve comfort and indoor air quality.