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I don't know if they run them according to a supply/demand type thing, as that answer would suggest, of if they produce x amount of energy per day, period. Just a thought, as I don't know. But I don't think the power plant throws another chunk of coal on the fire, figuratively speaking, just because I turn on a light.
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Powerplants come in a few different flavors.
Baseline plants run constantly producing power all the time. This is where nuclear and coal plants tend to fall.
Beyond baseline plants there are powerplants that are designed to run durring times of higher load (generally the day), and plants that are designed to run only a few hours a day durring the peak of demand. Gas plants are popular for the latter ones.
In short, if you, and a lot of other people start using a lot of electricity then the power company could end up turning on a powerplant somewhere to compensate. If you and a bunch of people suddenly started using less electricity all the time then the result would likely be a powerplant not being built (rather then one being shut down as the origional article suggested).
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Switching to greener power alternatives will generate new jobs, anyway, biofuel, hydrogen fuel cells, wind power, hydroelectric power, solar furnaces, nuclear power plants. All those things need to be constructed and maintained.
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Hydrogen fuel cells are not an alternative. The good ways to generate hydrogen tend to use a lot of energy, or spit out carbon dioxide.