[NSW] Trial to control home across web

Looks to me suspiciously like an attempt to match load to supply rather than the other way around. People could expect to see their airconditioners turned off when high temperatures push demand up.

"Volunteers in these areas will have second-generation ''smart meters'' fitted in their homes later this year, allowing them check the energy use of appliances in real time via an Energy Australia website and to count their carbon footprint kilogram by kilogram."

That's plain silly. Of you don't want to use an appliance, turn it off. If you want to use it, turn it on. If you watch its carbon footprint, with a view to turning it on when the footprint is lowest, then you'll find that you're turning it off when electricity is cheapest, because that's when the most CO2 is release per unit energy generated.

Sylvia.