Georgia Power is now offering free activation and installation of a new home security and automation system, coupled with a thermostat, under a recent partnership with Vivint. Vivint is a preferred provider of the power company, and the partnership allows Georgia Power to build on its smart home offerings. These new technologies help make homes remotely and easily manageable via apps that will enable control of lights, locks, garage doors, thermostats and security systems in one.

Wildfire resilience is a pertinent topic on everyone’s mind in California with more than 100 people killed by wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Fires are a normal part of the North American ecosystem. However, fire suppression policies and timber industry practices in the US and Canada since the early 1900s have increased the fuel on the landscape.

Smart home technology has scaled rapidly over the past few years, going from a futuristic novelty or luxury for affluent consumers to a convenient part of many Americans’ daily lives. According to a report published in March 2019, there are over 66 million smart speakers in the United States, representing about one-quarter of the adult population.

To secure their future and deliver on their promise for tomorrow, today’s utilities need to do more than restructure physical infrastructure. They need to restructure how they interact with a critical asset and ally: their customers. Changes in policy, infrastructure, financial models and climate are spurring utilities to reexamine how they do business.

General Motors and Bechtel will partner to install thousands of electric vehicle fast charging stations across the United States, with construction on the first installations expected to begin later this year, the automaker confirmed to Utility Dive. First reported by CNN on Tuesday, GM officials say details on the partnership are sparse because the arrangement remains in a Memorandum of Understanding phase.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan outlined a plan for the state to use 100 percent clean electricity by 2040. The Clean and Renewable Energy Standard program will increase the use of zero- and low-carbon clean and renewable energy sources. It will recognize the clean and safe aspects of nuclear energy, support hydropower, advance emerging technology for carbon capture and storage and utilize energy-efficient combined heat and power.