The energy department has $3.4 billion of funding available in the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Consumers Energy's application advanced through the initial screening and is being reviewed by the department.

Consumers Energy plans to invest about $900 million through 2015 in its smart grid program. A federal grant would reduce the amount that the company would seek to recover from customers for the project.

The new smart grid meters will provide Consumers Energy's 1.8 million power customers with detailed information about their power usage, allowing them to make decisions about energy efficiency, conserving electricity during periods of high demand, and lowering their energy costs.

Consumers Energy has also announced plans to add communication modules to the existing meters for its 1.7 million natural gas customers. That will allow the utility to provide more detailed information about energy usage to those customers, so they can make decisions about lowering their natural gas costs with energy efficiency steps.

The smart grid project is part of Consumers Energy's Growing Forward strategy, which calls for investing more than $6 billion in its utility operations over the next five years. The company believes that these investments will improve service to customers plus create jobs, boost the state's economy, and expand the state's tax base.

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