I work for Powecor and this is the first I've heard of it? 2008 is very soon to get a system like that underway. Maybe only in small areas as a trial. In the late 80's and 90's there were a few zone substations around melboure that had UFA which stands for Urban Feeder Automation where they could control hot water services coming on and off by sending high frequency signals into the powerlines. Anyway, it's all pretty much all been pulled out because it failed dismally. I think one of the problems with the system was that distribution transformers would trap the high frequencies if there were Delta windings. If it's a direct line with no circuit breakers and windings then it's ok like PLC (Powerline carrier) which is used in SPAusnets transmission lines for intertripping. It works very effectively but on the lower scale for every house it's a big job! At the moment I think load shedding will remain how it is and how it worked yesterday, just rotating who is off for how long to reduce the load.
The problem yesterday is that the 330kV feed from the Snowy scheme (NSW) between Dederang Terminal Station and South Morang Terminal Station tripped off because of the fires and they had to wait until CFA would allow them to fix it. Apparently we get up to 30% of our power from snowy on heavily loaded days like yesterday and with that gone... we had to load shed! I do agree that it will probably happen but I don't think it will be that soon.
I thought the power was bought in 5 min intervals?