Supply and demand, pure capitalism. If you want to use electricity in peak demand hours, why should it not cost you more?
remotely load shed (shut your stuff off)...
I'm on the fence on this one. On one hand, they can prevent brownouts or blackouts by turning off unnecessary or "convenience" loads. Why should we tolerate a blackout on a 100+ summer day because a bunch of people want it to be 65 degrees inside, when there would be no blackouts if nobody went below 75? Or reverse it, people like Obama wanting it to be 80+ in sub-zero weather? When it's a limited resource, other peoples' actions do affect me.
The 1984 aspect is troubling though.
You are already penalized in California for your electric usage. PG&E works on tiers and the baselines are set so low noone can stay under them.
They lie about the reason on their website though. The tiers were put in place to pay back all the borrowing the state did for electricity when Gray Davis was governor. It is one of the main reasons he was recalled. We are still paying for it. I believe it was done through 30 yr bonds.
http://www.pge.com/myhome/myaccount/charges/