The funds are being sought for Smart Grid Technology, which uses
advanced (digital) technology to deliver power to customers more
efficiently.
Smart Grid Technology has the potential to produce significant consumer
savings, reduce the need for new transmission lines, give consumers
better tools to monitor and control their own energy consumption and
improve the state's broadband access by creating high-speed access to
every substation in the state through the build-out of a fiber optic
network.
Smart Grid will create an automated metering infrastructure and new
smart meters will create a technical infrastructure that will allow
Vermont utilities to try pricing their kilowatt hours based on peak and
time of use-based pricing.
This will allow users to monitor their own use, make decisions about
when to use power (based on the time and the cost of the electricity)
and allow the various utilities to better manage their own peak
demands.
The new meters create two-way communication between the user and the
utility, allow users to make choices based on pricing and allow
utilities to better manage usage and peak demands.
It may not seem much for one household to run the clothes dryer at
off-peak hours, or one ski area to make snow at off-peak hours, but
collectively it could result in significant savings in terms of
infrastructure, management and cost savings for the consumer.
The cooperative project has the support of Vermont's congressional
delegation as well as state energy offices. It represents the type of
forward-thinking collaborative work necessary to create a greener
Vermont and one where consumers are empowered to take an active role in
their own energy use.
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