(Washington, DC) Smart grids are about to bring forth a technological revolution that could eclipse those generated by the divestiture of AT&T or even the advent of the Internet, government leaders said here today at UTC's Smart Grid Policy Summit.

"Brace yourselves," Philip Moeller, Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner, said. The smart grid could be even more transformative than the break-up of AT&T twenty-five years ago, he contended. "That was kind of like unleashing the hounds of hell. The system was broken and people hated it. They hated having choices. They hated having one bill. But they got over it."

On a more prosaic note, Moeller noted that the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) interoperability standards that FERC must approve, adopt and enforce should be completed by year-end 2010. Of all the technical issues, Moeller will focus on cybersecurity as his top issue – the consequences of getting it wrong on this issue is too great, he said.

"To me the excitement and uncertainty surrounding the development of the smart grid reminds me of the early days of the Internet," Maureen McLaughlin, Attorney-Adviser, U.S. Department of Energy, said. A key parallel between the rise of the Internet and the advent of smart grids is that "in both cases, the architects have to plan for what they cannot predict."

But, unlike the Internet, the margin for error in smart grids is razor thin. "Smart grid technologies are likely to become far more ubiquitous far more quickly. We won't have the luxury of having a few early adopters to test out the system," McLaughlin warned.

As smart grids revolutionize society, the utility industry will face its own transformation in the form of a massive personnel shift, Paul DeMartini, VP of Advanced Technologies at Southern California Edison Company, said. "The workforce is very important. Over the next ten years we are likely to see a 50% turnover in the workforce."