Smart grid is not low hanging fruit.

$100 Million to install 24,000 smart meters: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15847180

That is just over $4000 per electricity meter to enable communication.

For comparison, a 1000 sq ft of R60 attic insulation costs about $1500 before subsidies.

Replacing every light in your house with CFLs costs about (25 lights x $5) $125. Or prettier LEDs for $1250.

Adding a timer to your water heater so it only heats the water during the hours when you might use it is another $25.

The difference being that all of the things on this list save energy by wasting less energy, while the smartest grid in the world can only tell you how you are wasting energy.

On the other hand, the project will likely result in everyone else’s energy prices going up and raising energy prices does encourage conservation.