John Valdez installs Westar Energy's new SmartStar meters Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011, at the Graystone Apartments in Lawrence.

After months of behind-the-scenes work, residents will begin to see for themselves what Westar Energy’s SmartStar program is all about.

The state’s first smart meters are being installed in Lawrence this week.

On Tuesday, a utility crew was bundled up in triple layers to withstand the frigid temperatures as they swapped out the old mechanical meters with digital ones at Trailridge Apartments, 2500 W. Sixth St.

This new generation of meters, know as smart meters, will provide information that has the potential to revolutionize how electric companies price energy and customers consume it.

Westar’s $39 million SmartStar project, half of which is being funded by a federal grant, is the first of its kind in Kansas.

“This is the first step in upgrading the distribution system in Lawrence with smart meter infrastructure,” said Matt Lehrman, a SmartStar program analyst with Westar.

Westar has spent the past nine months setting up the technology needed to connect the smart meters in Lawrence to a computer and software hub in Topeka.

Crews that Westar contracted through Vanguard Utility Service have been in Lawrence since Friday installing new meters. Over the next two weeks, Westar expects to install 1,500 meters in the Deerfield neighborhood.

Westar selected Deerfield as its pilot neighborhood and plans to start installing 44,000 meters in the rest of Lawrence in the late spring. The Deerfield neighborhood runs north of Sixth Street and south of Peterson Road and west of the Lawrence Country Club and east of Kasold Drive.

Westar has notified customers about the meter exchange, and crews don’t have to go inside homes. To exchange the meters takes five to 10 minutes, and power will go out for about a minute.

“It’s fairly quick and easy,” Lehrman said.

Once the meters are installed, residents won’t notice anything different. But in the next few months, customers will be able to go online to see how much energy they are using on an hourly basis the day after it is used.

The smart meters also will allow Westar to more easily identify where power outages occur, Lehrman said.

Eventually, Westar will offer pilot rate plans for those who want to voluntarily participate. The idea is that energy will cost more during the times of day when demand is at its highest and cost less during the times of low use. By having fewer people use energy during peak times, Westar hopes to delay having to build more power plants.