By Chris Taylor
Paducah, KY – Three Western Kentucky utilities are moving toward improving their electrical grids. They're at different stages of implementing a smart grid, where homes communicate digitally with the utility reporting electricity usage. While Paducah Power has already installed the smart meters, Jackson Purchase Energy has replaced about 40% of theirs and expects to finish sometime next year. The Paducah Sun reports West Kentucky Rural Electric plans to install the technology sometime in the next five years. Smart grids save utilities money by cutting out manual meter reading and increase efficiency.