But in modern days you have the nonlinearities nearly everywhere (any SMPS, mainly in StandBy mode,...), so these intermodulation effects start to cause problems: Not only an audible noise, but even flicker of discharge lamps...
I wouldn't believe that a control signal could influence discharge lamps operation but I've probably experienced that with my MV lamps. I thought there's something wrong with them (or with a ballast) but now, when I link it to this information, I think there's a common pattern with MV flicker periods and occurrences of that LED sounds. On the other hand, I think I haven't seen that with HPS or magnetically ballasted fluorescent lamps.
The 216Hz signal (that's what I've found) must be strong enough to pass through transformers and mustn't be easily filtered out because of a possible abuse (using the low tariff permanently).