Smart grid deployment: smart meters.

(1) The federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 states that it is the policy of the United States to maintain a reliable and secure electricity structure that achieves certain objectives that characterize a smart grid. Existing federal law requires each state regulatory authority, with respect to each electric utility for which it has ratemaking authority, and each nonregulated electric utility, to consider certain standards and to determine whether or not it is appropriate to implement those standards to carry out the purposes of the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. The existing standards include time-based metering and communications, consideration of smart…