A wonderful example of technology and good policy which will benefit everyone except the meter readers, and one hope that other meter based power suppliers are not far behind.
An excerpt.
Daniel Weintraub: New electric meters will give consumers the power
By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 27, 2006
Even as California struggles to keep the lights on and the air conditioners working during a record-breaking heat wave, the state has taken a big step toward ensuring that there is enough juice to go around in the future to serve a growing population.
Regulators at the Public Utilities Commission last week voted to allow Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to install modern electricity meters for all of its customers.
The meters will have many advantages over the old technology. The company will read them remotely, saving millions of dollars in labor costs. The equipment will also help the utility monitor its electricity load and more accurately forecast how much power it needs. And the meters will make it easier to pinpoint the location of outages and to fix them quickly.
The best thing about the new meters, however, is not what they will do for the company but what they will do for customers.
The meters are the first step in letting small businesses and residential customers take control of their electricity usage and save money by using less power during peak hours and more when demand for energy is lower.
