Power/energy: Homeostatic control for electric power usage: A new scheme for putting the customer in the control loop would exploit microprocessors to deliver energy more efficiently

The law of supply and demand works well with much of the world's commerce. Why not apply this law to consumer purchases of electricity? Improbable though this may seem, extensive advances in computation and communication could allow a modified supply-and-demand electrical system to become operational in a few years. Both utilities and customers would benefit. For utilities, there would be opportunities to cut operating costs and capital investments, and for customers there would be options to buy power at lower rates.