I'm in the industry, and the narrative surrounding this is 100% bullshit. The customers impacted all signed up for "Demand Response" program, which means THEY GOT PAID to allow the utility the right to cut their power use. It is actually a very healthy program for certain types of businesses, but doing it for residential customers is dumb purely because of the optics and how it is being reported. It is the customers' own fault for being morons and not understanding what they signed up for. The utility cannot just "cut your power" without your approval, no matter what type of thermostat you use. EDIT -- I should clarify, I meant that they can't cut your power via your thermostat. They of course can cut it via rolling blackouts. This is one of several reasons why a DR program is actually a good thing because partial power is sure as hell better than a total blackout. But of course it is never reported this way.