Redcare Incompatibility
Last time I looked into Redcare (for burglar alarm monitoring) I was told you couldn't have it on an ADSL line. So perhaps to 10,000 users of which BT speak are those to whom they will never be offering a broadband service. The rest of us will no doubt be forced to do it some other way.
Personally I fear smart metering, as currently prososed for two reasons:
1) Richness of billling options as offered by mobile phone industry. i.e. You can never work out if you're on the best tariff.
2) Real time feedback. I don't want some lowlife in the control centre phoning his mates when the meter tells him there's no-one home. For that matter, would you want the 16Amp spike at 4pm alerting the aforementioned lowlife's paedo associate that you 14 year old daughter has just come home from scool and is now in the shower.
Conclusion: energy charges will rise, but you won't know why - and it's just another means of spying on you.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.