The purpose of smart technologies is to help us use available resources in a better way. With the help of these technologies, we can lessen the impact of our activities on the environment and reduce living expenses. One smart energy technology that can help us reduce our bills and stress on the environment is the Smart Grid. This grid consists of an array of “enabling technologies,” such sensors, meters, integrated communications systems, and storage devices.

According to Mike Lawrence, U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s associate laboratory director for energy science and technology, "We can either invest the way we have in the past, or we can use intelligent systems to do for energy what the Internet has done for communications."

The recent availability of cheap computing power and low-cost bandwidth has played an important role in development of the smart grid.

According to Rob Pratt, a scientist at PNNL, "So far information technology has had a fairly small impact on the energy infrastructure. That’s about to change."

The importance of smart technologies can be understood from smart meters, which provide detailed energy use stats and perform telemetering. Here are some of the benefits of these devices.

Smart meters can read remotely, virtually eliminating the need to take on location readings. With remote connection and disconnection of electric service, it should take less time for processing service orders for the majority of homes and businesses.  Smart meters can also help utilities restore power more quickly by automatically notifying about power outages.

For managing electricity costs, consumers can see the electric usage information collected by the smart meter. This can be a very useful feature, supporting energy-saving decisions, such as switching off unneeded appliances and adjusting the thermostats. Less consumption of power may result in a reduction in its production. Smart meters also reduce the amount of money utilities spend on providing services such as readings, connections, disconnections.

Those who use alternate energy sources, such as solar and wind, can use a smart meter to sell energy back to the grid.

Some Retail Electric Providers (REPs) offer programs in which they reduce electricity rates for consumers who do off-peak energy use, and set higher rates for peak energy use, such as hot summer afternoons. A "time-of-use" programme like this could result in less peak electricity demand, which is normally the most expensive energy produced as less efficient power plants are pressed into service.