They brought out the fiber network here late last year, but it serves other purposes - I get internet (very FAST internet), cable TV, and telephone service if I want them. The meter is tied into the fiber. The distribution panel, no way. They will not tresspass into my home to touch that.
But yes, that is a trend. Florida power had, several years ago, a rate scheme whereby they could turn off your pool pump, water heater, and/or the AC for a short period of time during peak demand periods to reduce load. In exchange, they gave a small monthly discount. This was before so-called "smart meters" were being used. They used a controlling contactor separate from the meter that turned off selected circuits remotely by radio command.
The concept is to avoid having to build power plants. The greens have the big floppy ears of the commie in the White Hut right now, and he believes that we are living our lives way too luxuriously. So, he wants to knock our lifestyle down a few notches to match the lifestyles of some third-world countries. That can only be done by reducing the availability of energy. And the way to do that is to sell "green". The remote load controlling is a means to sell green.
It would be far better for the country overall if we'd just remove the greens, and build a few dozen stinky coal-fired power plants every year for the next decade or so rather than chase this pie-in-the-sky BS solution to the myth of global warming.
I know that most of these programs all have valid basis to their design, ....in part.
I don’t naturally doubt all of them independent of one another.
What bothers me is how they all are being coordinated with some very stupid consequences and are being promoted by similar ‘lunatic fringe’ advocates.
People do things for reasons. Granted, human error may account for a lot of stupid results, but there are also those who have ulterior motives for their positions.
Al Gore promoting ‘Green’ living isn’t about saving the environment. I may not know his true intentions, but his actions and lifestyle are not consistent with that philosophy. Although I disagree with him, I also don’t attribute his behavior and agenda to simple stupidity. I believe he well knows what he is doing, although I don’t trust him, nor agree with his agenda.
There is something more to all the remote monitoring of individual circuits than simple load shed analysis. Capacity is being built for some purpose. What that is, ...I don’t know.