Article in WaPo on Smart Grid

Peter Slevin and Stephen Mufson of The Washington Post penned a nice article about how the stimulus package will advance the nation's electrical transmission grid. They begin with a description of where we are today.

But first, the infrastructure must be installed. When Obama promises "a better, smarter electricity grid," he is talking about overhauling a network that resembles your grandmother's patchwork quilt, and is about as frayed.

The system, considered an engineering marvel two generations ago, essentially does one thing: It carries electricity from Point A to Point B, feeding it into a home or business whenever a light switch is flipped or a cellphone is recharged.

The article continues with a clear explanation of the specific work that will be done while maintaining simple and accessible language. It is important for us to know exactly where and how the stimulus money is going to be spent and how it will benefit us later on down the road.

On a larger scale, experts say relatively inexpensive upgrades could help operators spot trouble before it hits in cases like last year's Texas brownouts, when the wind died and turbines stopped making power.

If sensors called phasor measurement units were installed at substations, an operator could see a problem developing and channel electricity to fill the gap, said Carl Imhoff, a specialist at the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Rounding out the article the reporters describe the results of a pilot program involving 110 participants who were put on a real-time pricing plan where the price changed every 5 minutes. The households were given an assortment of ways to monitor their usage along with the current price of electricity. Whereas the results of this study are no doubt important, it cannot compare to the scope and real life results amongst our participants.

This just goes to show that Power Smart Pricing is a step ahead of the developing real-time pricing programs around the country. Aside from saving money, all you Power Smart Pricing customers out there should be really proud that you are influencing policy nationwide. We document your success so we can prove how ordinary families in downstate Illinois are heading a fundamental shift to low priced times. ;)

Here's the article: Stimulus Dollars Energize Efforts To Smarten Up the Electric Grid