"With a system like the one Tendril describes, utilities that charge nine cents per kilowatt-hour during ordinary times might charge a much higher price--say 75 cents--when demand peaks, says Harvey Michaels, an energy efficiency scientist and lecturer at MIT. Consumers could save money by using energy-intensive appliances when prices are lower, and the shift in demand could significantly reduce costs for utilities. Indeed, if pricing schemes could be used to redistribute demand equally throughout the day, no new electricity-generating capacity would need to be installed for as long as 28 years, according to an article appearing soon in the new journal Service Science by Richard Larson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT. "

More at MIT Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22366/