The GridPoint Connect is an appliance that monitors the energy draw in the building so that you can reduce your peak power demand. GridPoint's Sandra Lee told me at Solar Power 2007 that by carefully tracking the energy to your HVAC and appliances, and using off-peak instead of peak power, consumers can drastically lower their utility bills. The "Prius" effect will have consumers saving money by running appliances at night or lowering their thermostats just to see how much they can save.

The appliance also includes a battery backup system so if the power goes out, you can keep the house functioning.

Homeowners/businesses can volunteer to share the information with their utilities, who would be able to remotely turn off non-essential functions (dishwashers, etc.) when the grid is under stress.

In the future, the company will manage the allocation of power to electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles so that they can be charged at the cheapest times of the day. Utilities would also be able to block these vehicles from recharging at inopportune times.

If many GridPoint appliances are deployed, they would help utilities use cleaner power production (avoiding the dirtiest coal plants used at peak times) or even prevent new plants from being built.

For end users, the benefits aren't as obvious. Utilities should offer discounts for buying GridPoint appliances as even conscientious consumers will probably take a long time to pay back the cost of the appliances. Privacy issues will come up, and some people who own rechargeable vehicles won't want their utility to dictate when they "fuel" up.

GridPoint is filling an important need as the power grid is antiquated in its lack of two-way communications and highly energy inefficient.