Re: It won;t help
... unless there is a hidden plan to introduce swingeing tariffs for peak usage times
Funny you should say that, because that IS the primary function of these meters - price based rationing. The whole point is that at peak times, the cost will go up - and so, the theory goes, people will voluntarily change their patterns to use lecky when it's cheap. As the ever so witty comment above suggests, it'll be getting up at 1am to cook lunch and stuff like that that creates the cost savings - but no actual energy savings.
Eventually, the idea is that you'll buy washing machines and tumble dryers that can "talk" to the hub and will automatically run themselves when the lecky is cheap. However, as also pointed out above, look forward to the anti-social behaviour injunctions when you try doing that in anything but a fully detached house !
IF the cost rationing doesn't lop enough off peak demand, then the next step will be familiar to those of us old enough to remember the 70s. The only difference is that the power cuts will be more granular.
Of course, it won't be as simple as "delay cooking dinner till 10 pm" since the cost will depend on how the wind is doing. There's no enough wind generation nominal capacity in the UK that it's making keeping alternative *backup) plant open very expensive, but without that backup plant we don't have enough if the wind isn't blowing. I know the eco terrorists behind wind will claim this is all lies, but the facts are that we do have spells when it's really cold, demand is high, and there's flip-all wind for days on end. December 2010 was a good example - we managed (just) then, but we don't have the capacity now to deal with another period like that fortnight.
So when you get home from work, on a cold December night (it's night, so that solar PV is doing nothing), there's a frost on the ground, and clear skies. The snow is falling down quietly as there's no wind. You'll get home looking forward to a nice hot dinner - only to find you can't afford to cook it as the price rationing has kicked in.
THAT is what is behind smart meters. No they don't talk about it, all those adverts are outright lies, but that is the one and only function of these things - control demand (to match supply) by "pricing pressure" and if that doesn't work to turn people off. The wealthy will moan but carry on regardless, the poor (who will be poorer because they are paying for all this expensive and unreliable renewables carp) will sit in the dark and shiver while they starve to death.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
