From that story:
"Lastly, the commission indicated that access to BPL would
facilitate the ability of electric companies to manage the power
grid by delivering remote diagnosis of electrical failures."
More likely so they can monitor usage so you have to get up at
3:30 am to do the laundry so business interests have daytime power to
themselves.
They'll likely also use it to shut off power for late paynment
without the nuisance of a truck roll.
The power utilities have been remotely monitoring and controlling
their infrastructures for at least a couple decades with the SCADA
systems Clark mentioned. It's all political smoke & mirrors BS.