I write software for a company that deals in building controls middleware that recently branched out in to end-user power management software for buildings. Not so long ago, we engineers had a rather fierce battle with the CTO over precisely this point.
He insisted that a critical feature of the software had to be the ability to control arbitrary building controls via an unsecured, public-facing web service. The fact was lost on him that, should all of a medium-sized building's controls be cycled simultaneously, the local grid could very well collapse. Eventually he was overridden, but barely.
Rest assured that the engineers are not, in fact, complete morons. Just the executives.