From John Humbach
Writing on ways of preventing power failures that plunged the north-eastern US and Ontario into darkness last month, Jeff Hecht says: “A more promising technology, under test, will allow power companies to remotely switch off some heavy loads for short intervals,” (23 August, p 7).
There cannot be much need for testing. Many domestic customers in Switzerland have been subjected to just this technology for many years. The electricity supplier uses a remote-control box, fitted next to the meter, to switch circuits in and out whether the householder likes it or not. In practice, this does not cause much of a problem: it only means that circuits supplying appliances such as water heaters and washing machines are switched off during meal-cooking times.
Etchinghill, Kent, UK
