Interesting. I am curious how the communication was established with the appliances. Was it through the power grid using standard internet protocols?
Austin is one of the test grounds for Broadband over power transmissions, some were also using wireless links by the 3g network. Austin has smart meters that are all BOP linked you can check your energy usage online in real time. Yes they are going to use this capability to charge for peak and off peak power all utilities will do this eventually.