I actually did a fist pump today when I saw JEA was on the list of Google’s very first PowerMeter partners. The blog post Energized about our first Google PowerMeter partners explains:

Our initial partners include utilities with millions of customers as well as smaller ones. They are rural and urban, privately held and municipally run. Some are in the United States, others in Canada and India. They all have one thing in common — a desire to serve their customers by providing access to detailed information that helps save energy and money. For now, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers, but we plan to expand our roll out later this year. Our utility partners are leading the charge to make the electricity grid smarter and we look forward to working with them and others.

• San Diego Gas & Electric® (California)
• TXU Energy (Texas)
• JEA (Florida)
• Reliance Energy (India)
• Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
• White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
• Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada)
• Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)

Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provides customers with access to their home electricity consumption right on their personal iGoogle homepage. We are currently testing Google PowerMeter with a number of utilities and plan to expand our rollout later this year.

PowerMeter allows you to get better information about how you use energy and what you can do to be more efficient. You can use PowerMeter to reduce your energy bills and carbon footprint by making smart decisions about your energy use.

I have been talking endlessly this week about how Jacksonville needs to find a way to distinguish itself regionally and nationally as a leader. I’ve said that we need to do something, create something or implement something that causes people to sit up and take notice. Something that makes people say “wow, that’s pretty cool”. This could be the thing.

Just over the past two hours JEA (and Jacksonville) have been mentioned by ReadWriteWeb, Engadget and Gizmodo.

This news is so fresh JEA has not even written a press release for it. You heard it here first.

Google PowerMeter resources and links
Google PowerMeter FAQs