Actually it sounds like a sweet service *for a private company to offer to willing customers*
Seriously if a private company could hook up with a utility and say would you offer a customer a discount if they had a system to automatically lower their energy (heat nat/gas) during times when you are paying peak for it?
If the answer is yes go to the energy providers customers and offer the service for a fee which is a % less than they would save... Everybody wins..
They do this in my neck of the woods. It's not a very significant savings--5% or so.