Soon, your house may start e-mailing you.

It likely will tell you that you’re spending a lot of money on energy.

Leaders with Westar Energy told Lawrence city commissioners Tuesday that in January they’ll begin installing 1,500 smart electric meters that will have the capability of helping consumers save on electric costs. By late 2011, Westar expects to have 45,000 smart meters installed to cover almost every residential and small-business user in the city.

“If people will use the information these meters can provide, it will help them save money,” said Hal Jensen, director of the SmartStar program for the Topeka-based utility.

The meters will allow residents and businesses to access a Westar website that will track how much energy a home or business is using each day or even during certain hours of the day. It also will show how much of a carbon footprint a home is creating on a particular day, and the website will provide suggestions on how to offset your emissions.

Users also will be able to sign up for alerts to be sent via e-mail or text when their home’s energy bill is approaching a certain level.

Lawrence will be the first city in the state, and one of the few in the nation, to have the technology. City commissioners were impressed.

“Statistics say when you know how much energy you are using, you will use less energy,” said Commissioner Aron Cromwell, who is an energy consultant by trade. “This is one more thing our city can point to to say we’re on the leading edge of energy conservation.”

Westar received a $19 million grant as part of the federal stimulus to partly pay for the $40 million program. Lawrence was chosen as the test location, but Westar is building its computer systems to eventually serve its entire service area in Kansas.

Jensen said the company expects in the next several weeks to select the neighborhood that will receive the initial 1,500 meters. Jensen said that once selected, the company will hold several neighborhood meetings to explain the program.

In other City Hall news, commissioners:

• Approved a rare deannexation of property. The property owner at 1820 N. Third St. asked commissioners to remove his property from the city limits.

A previous owner had the property annexed in 1988 in hopes of getting city water service, but that ultimately never happened.

Now the new property owners say there are not many good reasons for the house to be in the city, and it often creates confusion for mail service and other issues. The property, which is a bit north of the Maple Grove Cemetery, is surrounded by property that is not in the city limits.

• Directed staff members to continue working on a new overtime policy for city employees. The issue came up as commissioners reviewed issues related to a January audit of the city’s trash service. That audit noted that some departments pay overtime to employees based on whether they work more than eight hours in a day instead of whether they work more than 40 hours in a week. Staff members said they expected to bring back a report on overtime issues in November.