EEI - Electric Utility CEOs Applaud Administration’s Smart Grid Initiatives, Urge Expedited Approach To Development of Standards

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
	Ed Legge , 202-657-2592

Electric Utility CEOs Applaud Administration’s Smart Grid Initiatives, Urge Expedited Approach To Development of Standards

WASHINGTON (Monday, May 18, 2009) -

Electric utility executives today praised the Obama Administration’s aggressive approach to transforming the nation’s electrical system into a “smart” grid and called for expedited development of standards so their companies can accelerate investment in and deployment of the smart grid.

The electricity executives pledged robust support for the smart grid during a White House briefing with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and dozens of other energy industry stakeholders, agency officials and regulators.

The executives applauded the Administration’s inclusion of smart grid funding in the stimulus bill and expressed strong support for the accelerated NIST- and EPRl-led process now under way to expedite development of smart grid interoperability standards.

“As an industry committed to bringing technological innovation into every aspect of our business so we can better serve our customers, we are truly gratified to have the White House leading the way on such an important effort,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the nation’s investor-owned electric utilities. “We’ve been addressing smart grid issues for some time, and we are investing billions of dollars in its deployment and use.

“We are committed to working with NIST, EPRI, the federal government, state regulators and everyone else involved to establish smart grid interoperability standards as quickly as possible so that investment in the smart grid across the nation can proceed more quickly,” Kuhn added.

“Smart grid” refers to the addition of advanced sensing, communication and control capabilities to electric transmission and delivery systems and the concurrent deployment of “smart” electric consumer devices. The advent of the smart grid is expected to improve efficiency, increase reliability and optimize energy use across the electricity spectrum for consumers, businesses and utilities.

# # #
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the association of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies. Our members serve 95 percent of the ultimate customers in the shareholder-owned segment of the industry, and represent approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry. We also have more than 65 International electric companies as Affiliate members, and more than 170 industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate members.