Well, ZigBee is what most governments are pushing for smart girds, and isn't totally free it is an open standard that anyone can join.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZigBee
Yeah, there are lots of frequencies that are good locally, but not many that are good globally. If there were frequencies that were even just good in three of the US, Europe, India, and China that would probably be good enough.
The idea behind a smart grid is usually some form of the local utility company taking money off your electric bill if your appliances are smart about not using energy at times of peak load. Nothing about the concept means the government has to be involved.