When studying applications of PLC, the vision of using PLC as communication interface for the energy core business of a utility is obvious. Within this respect, the present paper focuses on: (1) The necessity to co-ordinate distributed generation (DG) with the utility and (2) The option of shaping the consumers' load by offering innovative power tariffs. Requirements for the communication interface for these two energy core business related application are defined and mirrored on PLC systems.