Can a voluntary smart grid work?

03.03.11

With some US utility companies under pressure to allow their customers to opt out of the smart grid, one publication has examined the effects this might have.

How efficient can a smart grid be if it can’t “see” every part of the energy network?

According to clean-tech publication Greenbang, allowing customers to opt out of the smart grid will create data “blind spots” on the grid, and will see them incur a different set of costs for utilities as they are now, such as meter readers, service calls and maintenance.

But who pays for these costs: the customer who opts out or the supplier’s whole customer base?

To read the full Greenbang article, click here.