Meter's ticking

Imagine a day when the click of a mouse could tell you that the evening load in the washing machine is costing $5 in electricity, and indicate the same load would cost just 50 cents if done in mid-afternoon or on Sunday.

Sound futuristic? In fact, electric companies across the US already have begun introducing pricing plans on a "real time" basis - every half-hour or hour, for example.

The new idea is simple: Consumers will use more electricity during off-peak hours if they see the money they could save. That, in turn, would smooth the spikes of customer demand during peak times - which drive electricity prices skyward and force the operation of inefficient, higher-polluting power plants.

Currently, most electricity companies charge only two rates per year, summer peak and winter off-peak. In Washington, State however, 300,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in May began receiving real-time electricity bills. Regulators in Georgia and Massachusetts are working on similar plans.

And websites that post electricity prices and demand every few minutes are now under way, including ISO New England, the Holyoke, Mass.-based company that operates the region's electricity grid.