The national smart grid movement got a major black eye when the Maryland Public Service Commission turned down Baltimore Gas & Electric’s (BG&E) smart grid plan back in June.  Maryland PSC gave the plan a solid drubbing.  Not only did the commission slam BG&E for submitting a plan that did not enhance the electrical grid, it also dismissed the plan as wholly lacking in consumer education and messaging to change behavior.

They nailed it.

The implicit assumption behind advanced metering infrastructures (aka smart meters) and a smart grid is that consumers will change their behavior.  Demand response, critical peak pricing, time of use pricing.  These are all just internal industry catch phrases for getting consumers to change how and when they consume electricity.  Good luck.

Electricity is a commodity.  To the consumer, it’s like water.  You pull the cold faucet, out comes cold water.  You turn on the shower, out comes the hot water.  You flush the toilet…You get the picture.

It’s time to start talking about the empowered energy consumer, to make the implicit assumption explicit.  For any of this grand experiment in energy distribution to work, the consumer must become engaged.  It’s all well and good to put a few solar panels on every 100′th house, but if we want to make a meaningful impact, we must curb our energy thirst, sip electricity in moderation, as opposed to continuously drowning ourselves in electrons and the distractions they bring. 

Yesterday, BG&E filed an ammended smart grid plan, in an effort to hold onto smart grid investment grant monies, eliminating mandatory time of use plans, replacing them with peak consumption rebates (a smart smart grid plan).  This makes good business sense, people want to save money, they don’t want to worry about how they’re spending it.  They are also accelerating the rollout of a consumer energy portal – aka smart grid website.  Very smart.  If the smart grid depends on consumer participation, then maybe it should start with consumers, not drag them along as an afterthought.

The BG&E – Maryland Public Service Commission saga has yet to play out.  But hopefully it provides a wake up call to the industry.  It’s about the consumer, not the grid.  The grid is merely a conduit, it’s what happens at the other side of the plug that matters.