In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt of ETH Zurich, usage and interaction concepts for a new technology in the area of electricity and energy management were developed during the fall semester 07/08. Under the label digitalSTROM, an alliance of companies, organisations, and research institutions tackled the task of networking electrical devices simply and reliably via existing electrical cables in terms of energy efficiency, user com-fort, and safety. Students in their 7th semester engaged with the issue and developed new and innovative interaction concepts. The key question concerned the conditions under which we would replace the normal use of simple on/off switches, which we take for granted, with more complex usage concepts.