Great River Energy and two of its member cooperatives are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy in a $5 million smart-grid experiment that it hopes will allow homeowners to save money and utilities to operate more efficiently.

The four-year project involves everything from installing energy-management software at utility headquarters to using smart meters to connect water heaters in thousands of homes to the Internet so they can get electricity when it’s cheapest, during the day.

via Great River Energy launches smart-grid pilot – TwinCities.com.

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