$96 million stimulus grant will allow CMP to install “smart meters” for 600,000 customers
 

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree announced this morning that a federal Recovery Act grant of $96 million will be coming to Maine to help Central Maine Power provide “smart meters” for all 600,000 of its customers. Funding for the “Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project” will be matched by CMP, for a total project cost of nearly $200 million.
 
“These smart meters will help update Maine’s electrical grid and give consumers more control over their electrical bills,” Pingree said.  “Smart meters allow customers to see real time electrical consumption, and allow them to change their electrical usage patterns to take advantage of new pricing programs to lower their electric bills.”
 
CMP plans to start installing the meters early next year.  All the new meters should be installed by mid 2012.  The meters could allow “dynamic pricing” in which electrical rates are adjusted based on overall system demand and will give consumers increased flexibility in choosing electrical suppliers and pricing programs.
 
“The meters that we have on our houses today were invented early in the last century,” Pingree said.  “Smart meters are going to bring the Maine energy consumer into the 21st century.  Creating a “smart grid” in Maine will put our state in an even better position to develop new sources of clean energy.”