Smart meters in Kings Mountains will help residents track their utility usage.

The small city will be the first municipality in the southeast to put all of its utilities on a smart grid.

The 1,200 homes and businesses in Kings Mountain are part of the nine-month pilot program.

Leaders from Gastonia, Concord, Shelby, Newton, Statesville and Landis came to get a closer look at it.

Gas, water, sewer, and power will be on a computerized system created by SAIC Energy.

Starting next week, residents will be able to monitor their usage online, see the times of day when are being charged heavily and make changes to save money.

A hundred units at the Greentree Apartment Complex are on the grid. The property manager said it is a hit with new tenants.

"They can just hit a button out there in the city and have the power on in five seconds. You know, versus it would take all day for them to come out here and turn them on," said property manager Scott Freeman.

City officials believe that is where they will save about 25 percent in utility costs. They will not have to dispatch workers to make as many repairs.

They have already detected a problem with a transformer and repaired it before it caused a power outage.

"You can turn somebody back on before they even know that they are out," said Mark Fronmuller, executive vice president with SAIC.

They have not said home much the pilot program cost, but they said residents won't pay for it.

"It will be no cost to our customers because we believe the savings will take care of that," said Kings Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey.

If the cost savings are met after the first nine months then Kings Mountain will move to a system that allows customers to prepay for their utilities. When a prepaid account is low on funds, customers will get a text or email alert.