The Naperville Smart Grid Initiative (NSGI) Steering Committee held an educational open house on April 26 for utility customers to learn more about the city’s $356 million electric utility asset and its exciting transformation to a more efficient, more reliable and smarter grid. More than 200 attendees visited the Electric Service Center to learn about the smart grid, its anticipated impacts on utility customers, the safety of smart meters, the project timeline and where to go for more information. In addition, the all-electric Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF vehicles were available to view and visitors could also take a tour of the city's electric control room. Attendees also had the opportunity to test drive one of four Chevy Volts on site.

One of the many displays available showed the differences between current utility meters and two different types of smart meters.

Brian Quirke, Director of Communications for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (center), helped provide information about the smart meters and the smart grid. Naperville is the only municipality in the State of Illinois to receive a Smart Grid Investment Grant from the DOE.

Councilman Paul Hinterlong poses with one of the smart grid substation arrays.

Brian Kirchman from Calico Energy Services provided demonstrations on how the customer ePortal website would function. Many of the demonstrations were standing-room only.

Lesley McCain (left) from the Naperville Renewable Energy Program and Stephanie Hastings of Naperville for Clean Energy and Conservation were on hand to showcase the environmentally friendly efforts of their organizations in partnership with the city and answer questions.

Electrical Engineering Technician Daniel Stephens explains how some of the smart meter equipment will function. 

Tours of the Electric Service Center, including the utility control room, were provided to interested customers and led by Utilities Safety and Training Instructor John Flannery.

Councilman-elect Steve Chirico is interviewed by Community Relations Manager Nadja Lalvani along with cameraman Marc Dahlquist from Naperville Community Television (NCTV17).

Several members of the Naperville Fire Department pay close attention as a Chevrolet representative educates them on the environmental benefits of a Chevy Volt.

To showcase the future of energy to attendees, the all-electric Nissan LEAF (above) and Chevy Volt (below) vehicles were on display and available for test drives.