Insights from our Editorial Team

Questions about possible health impacts from radio frequency radiation and electromagnetic fields associated with smart meters have been authoritatively settled. And it's a given that engagement with consumers about smart meters and grids is critical. More pertinent questions remain: Should consumers pay for smart meters if the resulting efficiencies lower utilities' operating expenses? Does lag time between smart meter rollouts and tangible consumer benefits hurt utilities' credibility with their customers?

Astute readers commented this past week on electric vehicles, smart meters in California and prepayment programs, taking the conversation on these topics to a new level. Here are readers' insights into leading smart grid topics.

A Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) report explores the challenges and opportunities presented by upgrading communications networks on the grid, as intelligence is added. Every utility must find the right mix for itself, based on legacy systems, service territory characteristics and business models, to name a few factors.

The year 2011 will bring with it many new challenges with ties back to 2009 and 2010, but the era of the intelligent utility is clearly evolving, being fuelled by information gleaned both from past successes and past mistakes.

All would agree, prognosticators and historians alike, that there's a lot of change coming down the pike in the coming year. Some of it is in response to consumer/regulator pushback on the consumer-engagement/consumer-cost front, and some is directly related to new technology being added on the end of the line (electric vehicles and distributed solar generation) to a one-way distribution grid not yet ready, in many cases, to take the increased push and pull of electricity involved in these new applications. Here are our Top 11 projections for 2011.