Oct. 28--In the competition for federal money to upgrade the electric grid, Houston won big, and Dallas lost.

Dallas power line operator Oncor didn't get any stimulus money to install advanced meters and create a smart grid, which will allow customers to see their consumption in real time and help Oncor fix problems more quickly.

Houston's CenterPoint Energy Inc. won $200 million, one out of 100 grants doled out Tuesday by the Department of Energy, amounting to $3.4 billion. That means North Texas electricity consumers will have to pay the entire cost of their smart grid upgrades, while Houston gets to rely on federal money to pay for nearly a third of it.

"Oncor's disappointed for our customers," said spokeswoman Carol Peters. The company doesn't know why it lost the competition, she said.

Nearly 390 companies competed for 100 awards.

CenterPoint attributed its win to the critical infrastructure the power line operator supports, such as pipelines and refineries that make and deliver fuel for the rest of the country.

"When we applied for the stimulus award, we actually had our press conference out at the port [of Houston]. Our goal was to stress significance of the refineries and the port, critical infrastructure to the nation," said CenterPoint spokeswoman Leticia Lowe.

A Department of Energy spokeswoman declined to explain why CenterPoint won and Oncor lost.

That doesn't mean that North Texans will have to live with old technology. Oncor, 80 percent owned by Energy Future Holdings, still plans to install advanced meters at every home and business in its territory. Customers are already paying a fee on their utility bills, approved by the Public Utility Commission, to cover the cost.

Customers in the Oncor territory will pay an average of $2.21 a month for 11 years for the new meters. The total cost of the upgrade for Oncor is $686 million, and Oncor had applied for $317 million in federal grants.

The average CenterPoint customer will pay $3.24 a month for two years, then $3.05 a month for 10 years.

CenterPoint plans to use the grant money to shorten the amount of time that customers must pay the fee, Lowe said. CenterPoint's project is expected to cost $640 million.

AEP, which also operates regulated power lines in Texas, lost its bid for smart grid money, too.

Some North Texans could benefit from federal smart grid grants in another way. Houston retail electric provider Reliant Energy won $20 million on Tuesday to help pay for projects to allow customers to use their smart meters.