The first step in your Leap-powered grid services program is to onboard your customer’s devices or utility meters to the Leap platform. This will result in a unique Leap meter ID that will be used going forward to track their program enrollment and participation. The method for onboarding these assets depends on the program type:

- [Utility Authorization](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/collect-data-authorization) \- Customer must authorize utility meter to enroll
- [Direct Enroll](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/partner-created-meters) \- Partner can directly submit enrollment data to Leap

For both program types, you can associate a partner reference ID (`refId` or `partner_reference`) to the Leap meter ID so you can more easily correlate each Leap meter to the customer and devices in your systems. See the 'Partner Reference ID Considerations' section below for more details.

### Launch Best Practice  
Plan and launch all programs within each Utility Authorization and Direct Enroll program type together for greatest efficiency. This streamlines work to enroll and participate customer assets by consolidating Marketing, Technical, and Operations activities.

## Utility Authorization Programs  
These programs require customer utility authorization and/or agreements in order to enroll. [Leap Connect](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/leap-connect#/) makes it easy for partners to embed a branded URL into enrollment workflows for customers to complete this process.

Utility authorization programs in the table below are all utility meter programs and use interval data from the residential or commercial utility meter for event performance calculations. Customer authorization via Leap Connect gives Leap access to energy usage interval data in order to calculate event performance and settlements. After a customer completes the Leap Connect utility authorization, Leap generally receives meter data from the utility within 1-2 days, at which point Leap will automatically create a new Leap meter on the platform.

**See the [Utility Authorization](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/collect-data-authorization#/) guide for an overview of connecting meters via Leap Connect.**

| Region | Programs | Meter Type | Interval Source | refId in Leap Connect |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | CCA, ENERGY-ONLY, ELRP | Utility Meter | Utility | CustomerID or SiteID |
| NY | SCR, DLRP, CSRP | Utility Meter | Utility | CustomerID or SiteID |
| PJM | Capacity | Utility Meter | Utility | CustomerID or SiteID |

## Direct Enroll Programs  
Direct enrollment programs do not require utility authorization and therefore support simple opt-in campaigns or auto-enrollment (with option to opt-out) campaigns. To enroll customers, partners only need to submit required enrollment data to Leap.

Meter Type in the table below indicates the asset type enrolled in these programs and where performance is measured. Interval Source indicates who is responsible for providing interval data so Leap can calculate performance and settlements. Device programs require partner's to upload device interval or runtime data to Leap.

**See the [Direct Enroll](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/partner-created-meters) guide for meter onboarding steps.**

| Region | Programs | Meter Type | Interval Source | Required Enrollment Data | Partner Reference |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | CEC-DSGS (Options 3 & 4) | Device | Partner | [CA DSGS Fields](https://support.leap.energy/support/solutions/articles/73000615281) | DeviceID |
| MA | CPS, ConnectedSolutions | Device* | Partner | [New England Fields](https://support.leap.energy/support/solutions/articles/73000609574) | DeviceID |
| RI | ConnectedSolutions | Device* | Partner | [New England Fields](https://support.leap.energy/support/solutions/articles/73000609574) | DeviceID |
| TX | ERS** | Utility Meter | ERCOT | [Texas ERS Fields](https://support.leap.energy/support/solutions/articles/73000622516-meter-data-creation-texas) | CustomerID or SiteID |

*These device programs can also support utility meters but they would still require interval data to be supplied by the partner and the Direct Enroll program [automation use cases](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/use-case-prioritization) would still apply.

**Texas ERS meters can also be onboarded via [Leap Connect](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/leap-connect#/) if customer address needs to be collected.

## Partner Reference ID Considerations  
#### Defining Reference IDs  
This is a partner-defined value that you use internally in your systems to identify a customer, site, and/or device. Depending on the `meter_type` (shown in the tables above as well as in the Portal and Meters API), your partner reference ID format may change.

- For _Utility Meter_ type programs - The `partner_reference` should be the **CustomerID** or **SiteID** you use to identify that customer site. 
- For _Device_ type programs - The `partner_reference` should be the **DeviceID** you use to identify that customer device. Alternatively, you could prepend customer or site IDs to this device ID (e.g. **CustomerSiteID-DeviceID**).

#### Setting Reference IDs  
_Utility Authorization Programs_

- You need to append this reference ID value in the `refId` query parameter of each customer's Leap Connect URL. See the Reference ID section of the [Leap Connect guide](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/leap-connect#/refid--additional-query-parameters) for more details including size and character restrictions.

- Generally within 1-2 days after the customer authorizes the meter(s) with this Leap Connect URL, the utility will start sharing data with Leap, at which point Leap creates a unique Leap `meter_id` for each utility meter authorized.

_Direct Enroll Programs_

- You must submit a unique `partner_reference` value with each asset you are uploading via Portal or API.

#### Viewing Reference IDs  
In both _Utility Authorization_ and _Direct Enroll_ programs types above, when the Leap `meter_id` is created, this partner reference ID value is stored in the `partner_reference` field in both the Portal and the [Meters API](https://developer.leap.energy/reference/getmeterdetails#/) endpoints.

#### Updating Reference IDs  
If you need to set or change the partner reference ID value for any reason, you can do so through the Portal (see [Partner Reference ID](https://support.leap.energy/support/solutions/articles/73000608399-partner-reference-id-refid-guide) guide) or the following endpoints:

- [Update reference ID on a single meter](https://developer.leap.energy/reference/patchv11meterswithmeter_idpartner_meter_ref-1#/)
- [Update reference ID in bulk for a group of meters](https://developer.leap.energy/reference/patchv11meterspartner_meter_ref#/)

### Additional Considerations for Utility Meters vs. Devices  
There are some additional differences to be aware of when processing Leap meters for assets in utility meter programs vs. device programs. Check out the [Utility Meters vs. Devices](https://developer.leap.energy/docs/utility-meters-vs-devices) guide for more details.