That nugget of news is from a report by GTM Research in partnership with the Municipal Smart Grid Summit. The report is based on a 37-question survey conducted with decision makers in a variety of munis over two years.

The report explains that more than 75% of investor-owned utilities are already working on smart grid initiatives, but munis were generally overlooked in the first wave of smart grid spending. That, apparently, is changing. Some community-owned utilities have initiated or completed smart grid projects, but it appears that many others are shaking off the "wait and see" attitude and willing to take the plunge.

For the sake of background, munis are a little different than the utilities that get most of the attention. They're smaller – of the 2,000-plus munis in the U.S., about 1,400 have service areas with less than 10,000 customers, according to the American Public Power Association. While the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest muni, serves 1.4 million customers, it's an exception. In total, munis serve more than 46 million customers throughout the country (except Hawaii).

The utilities that took the "wait and see" attitude may find their reluctance will pay off. As the report news release says "...the initial wave of smart grid deployments in the United States had a steep learning curve, forcing many utilities to adopt a 'learning by doing' approach that has resulted in a fragmented vendor ecosystem and disparate networks." It follows up with the findings that integration will be crucial in the municipal market and vendors that are the most proficient at integrating legacy hardware and networks will gain the most.

The report also says, unsurprisingly, that munis consider AMI the most important smart grid application and that it will drive investment. The survey respondents also consider distribution automation to be very important and, to a lesser degree, demand response and consumer services.

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