Southern Edison gets green light, some moolah for smart metering program

The good news: Southern California Edison just got $1.63 billion in funding approved by the California Public Utilities Commission for its smart metering program, which is called Edison SmartConnect.

The not so good news, if you live in California: The money will come in the form of funding from ratepayers, so the utility was required to apply for authorization for this plan, which represents the third phase of its work on smart meters. Over the next three years, Southern California Edison will install 5.3 smart meters in homes and small businesses. This is all aimed at better managing peak demand, a plan that the company thinks will help it reduce overall power consumption during peak periods by 1,000 megawatts (or, essentially, the output of one power plant).