there needs to be a reporting system that does not plug into a central system without many encryptions. It seems that more and more, things offered back to us as conveniences (before they were charges, taxes by the govt) are now these smart helpful 'fixes" which are one more personal intrusion.

But they could do that now, without smart-grid technology - and have. I'm old enough to remember rolling blackouts in California - a response to bureaucrats interfering with the law of supply and demand. Smart grid technology just makes the law of supply and demand work on a finer scale, allowing the price of electricity to go up and down in response to supply and demand on an hour-by-hour basis, rather than on a month-by-month basis: here in Illinois we have "summer" rates and "winter" rates, so I end up paying more for electricity used at 3AM on a cool July morning, when demand is low, than I do at 5 PM on a cold winter's day (when demand is high), because the historical average demand is higher in summer - and there's nothing I can do about it. With real-time pricing, I can adjust my schedule, doing things that require a lot of electricity but aren't immediate or daytime needs late in the evening, early in the morning, or on weekends, when demand is lower and prices are down. Like I said, there are easier ways for NSA to spy and DHS to control.

"Smart appliances are intended to allow the manufacturer to collect data to help boost the reliability of their appliances." Yes, that could be true, but it could also be a great cover story.

Given the kind of people who are in charge of companies & government agencies these days, I don't trust any of them. I can easily see a day in which these tyrants would say "We're sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Emerson, but you used up your monthly allottment of Electricity based on what our perceived understanding of your "need" is. You'll have to complain to your local politboro, otherwise, it'll be only another 4 days until we turn it on again.

Basically, if there is a capability for them to exploit a technology, they won't hesitate to use it. No company needs to know what I do, when I do it, and for how long, why, etc. They need to get used to this line: "None of your damn business. You supply, I use, I pay. Simple."