Strenuous public objection has forced the California Energy Commission to withdraw a proposal that new buildings in the state have radio-controlled thermostats that would allow utilities to override customers’ temperature settings in the case of a power emergency. Some saw the plan as way too Big Brother; energy commission member Arthur Rosenfeld described it as minor private sacrifice for the public good. “If you can control rotating outages by letting everyone in the state share the pain,” he explained, “there’s a lot less pain to go around.” The commission will not leave the programmable thermostats off the table completely, but will discuss moving forward with the understanding that if customers want to keep their house a balmy 78 degrees during electricity shortages, the state could not override their wishes.
