'Smart' power meters herald future of our electricity use

Arrival of 'smart' power meters heralds the future of how we'll use electricity at home

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But the key to maximum savings -- as much as 6 percent a month last summer -- was his grasp of the state of the electrical grid and his family's willingness to adjust their power usage accordingly.

His utility, PPL Corp., is among a growing number of electricity providers that are testing pricing plans in which rates are set higher during the hours of peak demand, roughly following the curves of supply and demand in the wholesale energy markets.

As more utilities install "smart" power meters that track how much electricity flows into a home in real time, they are freer to offer alternatives to the average monthly rate that they traditionally charged to consumers.

The pilot programs are the first step in what's expected to be a complete transformation of the century-old power grid. Once a silent supplier of electrons to homes and businesses, it's gaining the ability to talk back -- not only to power companies, but to consumers and their appliances.

Armed with information, Brubaker, 56, took action. Besides switching his lamps to energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs, he chose to run his pool pump and dishwasher at night at his home in the suburbs and dairy country of south-central Pennsylvania.

"Essentially, it was just more conservation, being more cognizant of, 'Yes there are more savings here if we do things differently,'" Brubaker said.

By signing up tens of millions of people like Brubaker to change patterns of electric usage, the companies expect the new power meters and time-based rates to help avoid blackouts, curb greenhouse gas emissions and beat back the immediate need to build expensive new power plants.

Many utilities hope to make such rates available to all their customers within several years, with an eye toward shaving usage on the most demanding days of the year when electricity prices rise sharply.

While major industrial and commercial ratepayers have operated on time-based rates for years, the concept remains relatively foreign to residential users.

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