PG & E; Corp. will spend up to $1.8 billion installing advanced electric and gas meters in Northern California, the biggest effort by any U.S. utility to use technology to reshape electric-consumption habits, the Wall Street Journal reports.

he project was approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission, capping a week in which many parts of the nation set new records for electricity consumption and California officials worried that more needs to be done to dampen demand.

Read the full Wall St. Journal story

.(subscription required)