In this report
Overview
Prepaid meters
Smart meters
November 2007
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Watt watchers
Prepaid and ‘smart’ meters let you see how much electricity you use--and how much you might save

Want to sign up?

Call your utility company to see if it offers prepaid plans or smart meters. If it doesn't, contact your state public utility commission to see where it stands on the issue. (You'll find a state-by-state listing of commissions here on the Web site of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.)

Back in the day, as they say, the only way to find out how much electricity you used and how much you spent on it each month was to review the statement from your utility. Not only could that monthly bill provide quite a shock--"We spent how much on A/C in August!?!"--but traditional electrical meters also wouldn't provide you with a sense of how much power you were using each day.

Today, two increasingly-common types of electrical meter--prepaid and "smart"--might eliminate the surprise of a steep bill and lower your electricity use by allowing you to measure your usage in real time or even set limits on how much power you buy. The technologies could be a boon for consumers and utility companies nationwide. Still, you might not be turned on by all aspects of these kilowatt-hour counters.