Electricity came somewhat recently to Walpi, and water is still trucked in or carried by hand up the zigzag footpaths.
Buyers of long-term contracts for electricity could get somewhat lower prices, ranging from $100 to $150, but even that was unaffordable for many.
With the onset of large numbers of energy-flexible appliances, in particular plug-in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, a significant portion of electricity demand will be somewhat flexible and accordingly may be responsive to changes in electricity prices.
But although electricity production has increased somewhat, supply still falls well short of demand, the report said.
All of this would, indeed, lead to somewhat higher electricity bills — although not nearly as high as the usual suspects claim.
The subject, analysts say, is I.B.M.'s vision of the future of computing, with companies buying information technology as they would a utility service, somewhat like electricity.
The sense of being surrounded by a pack of lawnmowers is the price one pays for somewhat continuous electricity in a country with a power grid but little power generation.
But Chiza Vitta, a credit analyst from Standard and Poor's, said he did not believe coal was in a terminal decline, although its share of the US electricity market would diminish somewhat in the coming years.
I.B.M. is not saying, but analysts who have been partly briefed on Mr. Palmisano's talk say he will articulate I.B.M.'s view of the future of computing as a utility-like service that companies can buy as needed, somewhat like electricity.
The ubiquity of the term smart grid has meant that "the actual transformation of the electricity system has been somewhat lost in translation" [8].
