The Galvin Electricity Initiative is calling for a new Smart Grid that embodies the following principles: 

Principle 1: Allow free, competitive retail markets for electricity service.

Principle 2: Enable municipalities to access and make investments in the grid infrastructure within their jurisdiction, and give them a say in how funds collected for improvements are spent.

Principle 3: Compensate utilities for reliability, efficiency and customer service, not just for the amount of electricity they sell.

Principle 4: Incent utilities to provide customers with time-of-use rates.

Principle 5: Pave the way for smart microgrids.

Principle 6: Require higher reliability standards for the electric grid.

Principle 7: Enact new energy efficiency standards to conserve power.

Principle 8: Change tax codes to foster grid innovation.

Check out the details here: http://galvinpower.org/blog/archives/category/policy-principles?utm_campaign=OilHangover 

The smart grid is necessary infrastructure for the electric cars that will start to go mainstream in 2010, when GM plans to introduce its Chevy Volt for sale. Here's what GM says about the Volt's propulsion system: 

"[T]he first-generation Volt battery should hold 16 kilowatt hours of energy, have less than 300 cells, weigh 400-lbs, and take six or seven hours to recharge. As reported previously the Volt will purportedly be able to run approximately 40 miles on electric power alone."  Motor Trend, Aug. 15, 2008, available at: http://wot.motortrend.com/6285981/green/volt-watch-gm-gives-details-on-plug-in-hybrids-battery/index.html

(paraphrasing Denise Gray, GM's director of hybrid energy storage systems).