Leap Connect
Overview
Leap Connect is Leap's partner branded, multi-market service that allows customers to connect their accounts to different utilities, provide required information, and/or sign additional terms as required by market and customer type in one session. Once enabled by Leap, partners are able to generate a Leap Connect URL, which includes partner-specific branding, eSign forms and participating utilities. For more details, check out the following articles in the Knowledge Center:
- Leap Connect guide
- Connecting Meters in California
- Connecting Meters in New York
- Connecting Meters in Texas
- Connecting Meters in PJM
Customer Journey
Once you have provided your customer the registration URL through your customer journey of choice (e.g. account setup flow within mobile app for new users; marketing campaign for existing users), the customer will experience the connection process as follows:
- The customer navigates to Leap Connect through the registration link
- If applicable, the customer enters required information and agrees to additional terms if required by the program
- If applicable, the customer chooses their utility and Leap redirects them to their utility login screen to authorize data sharing. The utility then redirects the end-user back to Leap Connect indicating a successful connection.
- Upon completion, Leap redirects the customer to the Final Redirect URL (if supplied by the partner)
Leap Connect URL
Requesting a New Connect Flow
Review requirements in the Setting up Connect Links article (Portal credentials required) and then email [email protected].
Once set up, you can navigate in the Partner Portal to the Connect tab and click the + Connect link button in the top-right corner in order to configure the Leap Connect URL. You can also programmatically create these URLs using the URL structure and variables outlined below.
https://onboarding.leap.energy/<org-name>/<url-title>/?requestedUtilities=<requested-utility>&refId=<refId>
https://onboarding.leap.energy/ElectricSpaceships/ca-utilities?refId=123
Connect Variables
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
org-name | The partner name for your Leap tenant. Seen in the upper right corner of the Partner Portal or at the top of your Partner Account page. |
url-title | The name given to the specific Leap Connect flow that will appear in the URL. This is set by by Leap when creating the flow. |
requestedUtilities | An optional query parameter. Leaving this parameter blank will show all utilities in the transmission region to the customer. The utilities included in the query parameter will be marked as utility_is_required in the API response. For Commercial customers this “Required” label will also be shown in the Leap Connect user journey.If you know the customer’s utility provider, we recommend you add the utility to the URL for a more ideal customer experience. If you don’t know the customer’s utility provider, we recommend you leave this parameter blank to show all utilities. |
refId | An optional but recommended query parameter available to allow for easy synchronization between Leap’s platform and your internal system. This is generally a unique identifier in your internal system for each customer or site. |
Utility IDs
| Region | Utility | ID |
|---|---|---|
| CAISO | Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) | pge |
| CAISO | Southern California Edison (SCE) | sce |
| CAISO | San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) | sdge |
| NYISO | Consolidated Edison (ConEd) | cecony |
| NYISO | Orange and Rockland Utilities (O&RU) | oru |
| NYISO | PSEG Long Island (PSEG-LI) | psegli-arcadia |
| ERCOT | N/A (utility authorization is not applicable for ERCOT) | |
| PJM | Commonwealth Edison | comed-arcadia |
| PJM | Baltimore Gas and Electric | bge-arcadia |
| PJM | Potomac Electric Power Company | pepco-arcadia |
| PJM | PECO Energy Company | peco-arcadia |
Utilities not listed in this table are not currently supported by Leap Connect.
Supported Regions & Customer Types
| Region |
|---|
| CAISO |
| NYISO |
| ERCOT |
| PJM |
| Customer Types |
|---|
| Residential |
| Commercial |
If you are a current or prospect Leap partner looking to test Leap Connect, please contact [email protected] to get Leap Connect setup on your account.
URL Query Parameters
Reference ID
It is highly recommended to use the refId query parameter noted above (with a unique value per customer) in order to:
- Track Leap Connect status & re-engage customers who have not yet completed
- Link Leap's records to your internal records
The value that is provided in this query parameter will be stored in the partner_reference field in the Meters API responses. You can then use this to match meters in Leap's platform with customer accounts in your system. Check out the Utility Meters vs. Devices guide for guidance on defining and processing this ID for utility_meter programs.
Since this is a simple HTTP GET request, anyone could be making such a request back to your service. You should always ensure authentication and authorization of the user on your own platform. A Leap Connect URL without a unique Reference ID will not be traceable to a unique meter on the Leap platform.
The refId parameter has a 255-character limit and should follow standard URL character restrictions. Safe characters include digits (0-9), letters (A-Z, a-z), and a few special characters ("-", ".", "_", "*"). Any other special characters should be URL encoded before including in the refId parameter.
Reference ID Updates
If needed, you can modify these
partner_referencevalues, once a meter is authorized by the customer and on the Leap platform, via the partner portal or using the meter reference API endpoint.
Additional Custom Parameters
In addition to the recommended refId and optional requestedUtilities parameters, you can include additional custom URL query parameters in the initial Leap Connect URL. These additional parameters, along with the refId parameter, will be saved with each user's connect session and upon successful completion of the authorization flow, Leap will restore all of these parameters on the final redirect URL back to your site or app.
This allows for a variety of use cases including:
- Confirming which users completed the flow successfully
- Tracking state and user session information for customized responses and tracking
- Presenting different thank-you pages for different flows or campaigns
For example, each flow could have a custom query parameter added that indicates which marketing campaign, geographic region, or partner program it is. Then upon successful authorization, the partner web server receiving the final redirect can look for that parameter and customize the response appropriately or decide to forward the user to a different URL or server instead.
Embedding URL within Mobile Apps
When embedding the Leap Connect or Direct ShareMyData URLs (with the variable RefID parameter) within a mobile app, use a webview for the user to complete the process since iframes are often blocked by the utilities. Additionally, it is recommended to use a custom User-Agent header as the default webview User-Agent could also be blocked by the utility web infrastructure.
Updated 3 months ago