Picture a special meter that allows you go online or look into a display panel in your house to calculate the amount of electricity you use to wash clothes or run the air conditioner.

The amount of time it takes to restore service during a power outage also could be reduced through the installation of the so-called "smart meters."

Hawaiian Electric Co. currently is studying plans to replace more than 450,000 traditional power meters in the state with such high-tech meters, according to filings with the state Public Utilities Commission.

Besides eliminating the need for monthly home visits by meter readers, smart meter will allow HECO to start charging time of use rates, which would provide savings for consumers and encourage conservation, advocates said.

COST: $115 MILLION

Those rates would allow the utility to charge more during peak usage period between 5 and 9 p.m., and charge less when less energy is being used.

"The availability of recent energy usage information will ... empower customers to make more intelligent energy decisions and have greater control over their energy use and costs," Leon Roose, manager of HECO's systems integration department, said in testimony before the PUC.

HECO's smart grid project is an outgrowth of the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative unveiled by Gov. Linda Lingle's administration last year.

The initiative aims to cut the state's dependence on foreign oil for most of its energy needs and calls for 70 percent of the state's energy to come from renewable resources by 2030.

In its filings with the PUC, HECO estimated that it could cost about $115 million to replace all traditional meters with smart ones.

For the typical O'ahu customer, using 600 kilowatt hours a month would see their monthly bill increase between 21 cents and 97 cents, the company said.

Some of those cost would be offset by savings created by the smart meters.

Paul Fetherland, director of HECO's advanced metering infrastructure systems integration department, said in PUC testimony that the company could save $36 million through lower labor costs, reduced electricity theft and more accurate meter readings.

HECO spokeswoman Lynne Unemori cautioned that the cost figures are preliminary because the company is still studying the types of technologies required of such a system.

Unemori said the company has recently asked the PUC to delay hearings on the matter until summer 2010, noting that it wants to know how its investments in smart meters will mesh with requirements of the state's Clean Energy Initiative and future company investments in its transmission system.

"We've stepped back to look at it because it's a fast moving environment," she said.

CIVIL ISSUES

HECO's smart meter project is one of hundreds set up around the country during the past several years in wake of soaring energy prices and systemwide reliability problems.

President Obama's administration recent has set aside $4 billion in funding for smart grid development.

A model smart grid program set up in Boulder, Colo., allowed the local utility to detect a power outage in a neighborhood about half an hour before receiving its first customer complaint, the Denver Post reported.

The $100 million Boulder system not only allows customers to log onto a Web site to see their hourly electricity usage but also allows some consumers to view the amount of electricity consumed by their appliances and lights, the Post reported.

Other areas have had a rougher time with smart meters.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, PG&E's smart meter program in California's Central Valley received widespread complaints of meter malfunctions and skyrocketing bills earlier this year.

Henry Curtis, executive director and vice president of the environmental group Life of the Land, said he likes the idea of installing smart meters and time of use rates.

But he said he was concerned that the HECO plan is slanted toward a power distribution scheme in which most of O'ahu's electricity is generated by large power plants outside of the island's inner core in places such as Campbell Industrial Park and Kahe Point.

Instead, he said, he would like to see more emphasis on renewable energy projects such as photovoltaic technology and wind energy produced from downtown buildings.

Curtis said the smart meter technology also raises civil liberties issues since it allows the utility to monitor a consumer's minute-by-minute electricity usage.

"In general, we support smart grids and time of use rates. However, we recognize that the proof is in the pudding, the devil is in the details, and a lot can go wrong," Curtis said in comments filed with the PUC.

"The economy, the environment and the climate hang in the balance."