The city of Gahanna will host an information session on American Electric Power's smart meters, which will be installed on area residences.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at Gahanna City Hall.

The pilot project includes the installation of 110,000 smart meters, which provide a "two-way communication network that uses digital technology to provide customers with greater energy control," according to the flier sent to homes recently by AEP.

The smart meter detects power outages so repairs could begin sooner and allows residents to view their own usage, thus helping them to potentially lower their bills.

Terry Emery, Gahanna's service director, said the city is glad to be part of the project, saying it is similar to a project recently completed in the city's water department. The city is in the process of replacing water meters with transmitters that send data on the water usage directly to a computer at City Hall.

Until now, meter readers would have to drive by homes and point machines at the homes' water meters to collect water-usage figures for the city. Two-thirds of the meters still are read that way. More than 4,000 of the 12,500 total now have transmitters that send the same information to the city without having the meter reader drive by.

Meters had been read every 90 days but now could be viewed daily, and leaks could be detected immediately. Since the installation, the city already has contacted several residents and has been able to stop leaks in faulty outdoor hoses and indoor water breaks.

"I'm glad we're being incorporated in Gahanna," Emery said. "I think it will have the same type of benefits for electricity that we've had with the water (meters)."

State Rep. Nancy Garland (D-New Albany) will open the Feb. 25 program. Representatives of AEP and Gahanna officials will speak before the session is opened for questions.

Gahanna is just one of the sites chosen to participate in the program. AEP also is installing smart meters in Columbus, Whitehall, Bexley, Reynoldsburg, Westerville, Blacklick, Johnstown, Alexandria, New Albany and Pataskala. The test incorporates 150 square miles.

According to AEP's Web site, the $150-million project is being funded partially via $75-million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is part of a program AEP calls gridSMART, which is designed to take advantage of new technology to "stimulate growth, protect the environment and enhance communities."

AEP's Web site states, "Through this demonstration project, it is our intent to build a secure, interoperable and integrated smart-grid infrastructure that improves distribution system efficiency and reliability; demonstrates smart-grid technologies and consumer programs that reduce energy consumption by 18,000 megawatt-hours, peak demand by 15 megawatts, consumer cost by $5.75-million and carbon-dioxide emissions by 16,650 tons.

"Combined energy and peak demand reductions represent enough energy to power 1,800 homes and show how smart-grid technologies can help better manage the dispatching of existing generation today and the construction of new generation in the future. In addition, the reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions is equal to removing approximately 2,900 passenger vehicles off the road each year."