Do Consumers Really Care About the Smart Grid? Some Think Not, at Broadband Breakfast Club

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2010 – The “smart grid,” or the way that the electric infrastructure can be enhanced with interactive, telecommunications- and broadband-related capabilities, may not be that important for consumers, said panelists at Tuesday’s Broadband Breakfast Club.

At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission Energy and Environment Director Nick Sinai, in a keynote speech at the Broadband Breakfast Club, said that  intelligent electric infrastructure — including consumer data about energy use — could enhance competition in electricity and in broadband.

“The federal government’s role isn’t to figure this out, neither is it the state role,” said Sinai. However, “We need to set the conditions, so that utilities can continue to modernize, and deliver secure and reliable” electricity.

BroadbandBreakfast.com on Wednesday released, for FREE, the full-length video of the Broadband Breakfast Club event on Tuesday, July 20, which included Sinai’s keynote, followed by a discussion with two representatives of utilities, and two officials from the telecommunications industry. The event was moderated by Cynthia Brumfield, an energy and telecommunications analyst at the Utilities Telecom Council.

The panelists included:

• Joseph Andersen, Energy & Environment Consultant, Telecommunications Industry Association
• Bob Hance, President & CEO, Midwest Energy Cooperative
• Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Services and Associate Counsel, Utilities Telecom Council
• Larry Plumb, Executive Director, Emerging Issues & Technology Policy, Verizon Communications
• Nick Sinai, Energy & Environment Director, Omnibus Broadband Initiative, Federal Communications Commission.

The event is available on BroadbandBreakfast.com at the following link.

Don’t miss the next Broadband Broadband Breakfast Club, on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, on “You Say Title I, I Say Title II: What to Call Broadband Regulation?” Registration will soon be available at http://broadbandbreakfast.eventbrite.com.