The smart grid is basically a concept or idea of making today’s electrical grid more efficient overall. The smart grid is the idea of an advanced electrical distribution and transmission grid with bi-directional communication, consumer interaction, and dynamic electrical rates. The smart grid will help manage outages and power demand for the utilities, it will make electricity usage manageable using real time metering for the consumer, and will help to incorporate cleaner generation concepts for the earth. This will be done by utilizing recent advances in technology to help monitor the flow of electricity, adjust rates real time to reflect supply and demand, and incorporate local distributed generation such as wind and solar and help to reduce our overall carbon footprint. The smart grid is not just for improving today’s electrical infrastructure, it is thought to be necessary to support future electrical demand that may grow due to population, changes in lifestyle and the addition of newer “greener” technologies such as electrical vehicles (EV’s).