Internet of thing is something new for the domestic utilities, but industrial automation has linked physical plants to digital networks for decades. DoE experimental software attacks to the electric grid after all dates back to the end of the 90's. Stuxnet a few years later showed us that those kind of attack could be weaponized.
IoT security is news because it has reached the public opinion, but let's not be fooled: it's been years that we are in the cyber warfare of things.