Oct. 27--Oncor's application for a $200 million stimulus grant to help pay the cost of smart meters was rejected by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE announced the 100 winners (PDF) this morning in advance of a speech by President Obama in Florida, where the president is scheduled to highlight the "largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history," according to DOE.

The DOE hasn't explained why some applicants didn't win grant funds, but Dallas power line operator Oncor may have lost out because it didn't need the government funds to start its project. The Public Utility Commission of Texas has already approved a customer surcharge to pay for the meters. Many of the smart-meter projects that won stimulus funds, including CenterPoint Energy in Houston (which was awarded $200 million), said the stimulus funds were needed to complete their smart-meter project or to pay for other smart-grid components.

The Denton County Electric Cooperative, or CoServ Electric, won a $17.2 million grant to install 140,000 smart meters, which provide customers with up-to-date information about how much electricity they're using. That information should allow them to reduce their usage and, ultimately, vary it to benefit from time-of-use pricing.

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