Grid 21 will be launching the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign. The non-profit organization, Grid 21 has announced collaborations with Texas-based utilities Oncor and CenterPoint Energy and California’s San Diego Gas & Electric for the campaign. Electricity customers are urged by Grid 21 to use new generation of tools and technologies to better manage electricity consumption.

While other founding partners of the campaign include Itron and Landis+Gyr, the collaborator on the campaign is IBM (News - Alert). The market for customer-friendly energy-management tools is expected to receive a jumpstart with this campaign. The benefits of using information from smart meter technology will be also demonstrated to customers.

Grid 21 sponsored customer-savings contest will be featured by the Biggest Energy Saver Campaign. The creation and use of customer-friendly tools for managing home energy consumption will be also driven by the campaign. Ways to easily access and utilize the data provided by smart meters will be provided to customers through the campaign. Customers will therefore be able to make more educated decisions about their energy consumption and control their energy costs.

A nationwide call to create applications is also a part of the campaign. These applications should allow customers to better monitor and control their home energy usage. Prizes totaling up to $150,000 will be up for grabs for software application developers.

The Grand Prize of a new electric vehicle will be received by one grand prize winner from each participating utility’s service area in Texas. A suite of GE smart appliances will be also offered as first prizes.

The rollout of smart meters to all its residential customers was completed by San Diego Gas & Electric in May 2011. In-home devices that display data provided by the home’s smart meter will be received by a select group of San Diego Gas & Electric customers in July.

In a release, Steve Hauser, Executive Director of Grid 21 said, “There have been dozens of pilot programs involving smart meters across the United States, and consistently customers have reduced their energy usage and controlled their costs. Now the time has come to move beyond pilot programs and into full implementation because customers deserve it.”