LOUISVILLE, Ky. — How would you like to know how much your electricity usage is costing you at any given time? Or, better yet, how would you like to control your thermostat from any internet connection — even your BlackBerry®?

If you're a Louisville Gas and Electric Company customer, you can register for one of the 2,000 spots in its pilot program that provides this type of technology.

LG&E is taking applications for the Responsive Pricing and Smart Meter pilot program, announced in March, which gives residential and small commercial customers the latest technology enabling them to better understand and control their electricity usage. It also provides them with an opportunity to reduce their electricity bill by simply shifting a portion of their electricity use to times when overall consumption is typically lower and costs less.

"This is a great program because it provides our customers with real time information about their electricity usage and costs," said John P. Malloy, Vice President of Retail. "We want our customers to better understand their electricity usage, its costs and how it impacts the environment."

To ensure accurate testing, customers will receive various types of equipment designed to help customers control and reduce their electricity usage. One particular device is a portable Energy Usage Display that looks similar to a digital clock, but allows the customer to see, in real time, their electricity usage and the approximate cost associated with it.

Other pieces of equipment include smart meters and programmable thermostats that can automatically reduce usage during peak hours. A small number of customers will be set on a special rate that rewards customers for shifting usage to times when the total demand for electricity is lower. For this special rate, 87 percent of the hours are at a lower rate than the standard residential rate.

Those on the special rate would be able to lower their electricity bills by simply reducing their usage during the 13 percent of the hours where overall consumption is higher. A participating customer who does not shift or change their load from one time to another will not be penalized.

For testing purposes, the 2,000 slots will be located in a small number of geographically diverse meter-reading routes. Not everyone who applies will be chosen due to the limitations of these meter routes.

Interested customers should visit our website at www.eon-us.com or call 1-866-749-6938.

E.ON U.S., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a subsidiary of E.ON A.G., the world's largest investor-owned energy services provider. E.ON U.S. is a diversified energy services company that owns and operates Louisville Gas and Electric Company, a regulated utility that serves 324,000 natural gas and 398,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties, and Kentucky Utilities Company, a regulated electric utility in Lexington, Ky., that serves 531,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia.