Smart Metering Common in US within 5 years

Thanks to Treehugger for some digging (and wise-cracking consumer perspective) on what looks to be a huge change in utility metering in the next 5 years. Aside from trust and privacy issues they raise, it will be interesting to see what kinds of technological / design innovations smart meters enable.

"ConEdison has 20,000 homes in the New York metro area participating in a demand-management program using the Sky-Tel paging infrastructure to remotely control air conditioning in homes equipped with Carrier’s ComfortChoice two-way communicating thermostats...ComEd in Chicago has one of the country’s most advanced metering programs, with 65,000 customers under remote air-conditioning control. Its Load Guard program and Web site, wattspot.com, let customers see real-time electric prices and determine the prices they want for cycling their air conditioning."

Platts has some fascinating market projections for smart meter growth. "The installation of smart meters by utilities is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years, increasing from the current penetration of 6% of households in Europe and North America to 41% in Europe and 89% in North America by 2012, research firm Datamonitor said Thursday.