I think at some future the point the utilities are going to be more involved than they are right now. At this point in time you see some utilities offering set

I think at some future the point the utilities are going to be more involved than they are right now. At this point in time you see some utilities offering setback thermostats (smart and non-smart) as a way to help smooth demand during peak usage periods. Some of the better ones run promotions and offer rebates on Nests and Ecobees, but these units still are completely dumb when it comes to talking to the utilities. My electricity provider has real-time pricing and smart meters (with Zigbee interfaces) that are connected to HQ, but there is still no way to move that information to the wall unit. They offer a 3G-connected modulation unit for A/C compressors, but that's directly connected to HQ and the consumer has no other way to interact with it other than overriding it. If things really start getting bad out there (e.g. Texas this week^), that will be the motivation to improve this ecosystem. ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-12/searing-texas-heat-pushes-power-prices-to-near-record-levels https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-12/searing-t...