Leading the Way in Building a ‘Smart Grid’

The federal stimulus package and various U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives are promoting development of “smart grid” to help solve America’s energy crisis.

Our nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system has been deemed a national priority this spring by the federal government.

What does this mean for Piedmont Electric and you, our member-consumers?

The electric grid that covers our nation includes millions of miles of transmission and distribution lines that deliver power from generating stations to your front door.The first step toward building a smarter grid involves installing a strong foundation of smart meters at homes and businesses that can talk back and forth to utilities about outages and electric use.Piedmont Electric has been in the forefront in Smart Grid technology installing smart grid meters in our service area for more than two years, and we are on schedule to have every meter replaced before the end of this year.

Elsewhere in this newsletter you will see just one of the benefits of the “smart” meter outlined—the ability to check your individual home’s kilowatt-hour use on a daily basis.In addition to saving money by reducing meter reading costs, smart grid technology helps your electric cooperative effectively manage outages. For example, a smart meter can tell us when the power is out instead of relying on you to call the outage in, and they can help reroute power around problems. By allowing you to view your energy use on a daily basis, the smart meter can help you make better energy choices when using appliances.

At Piedmont Electric we’re committed to doing our part to build a smarter grid, making it faster, more efficient and smart enough to handle challenges this century promises to bring. Smart Grid meters allow Piedmont Electric to empower and partner with our member-consumers by helping you save money and use electricity more wisely.

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We’re interested in your feedback on this inaugural issue of our newsletter in the statewide magazine, Carolina Country. Please let us know what you think.