Now, I'm sorry to read that in your part of the world changing meters is an impediment to changing retailers, but this is a problem with your regulation rules (it's not a problem with smart meters). Down here, all the meters are owned by a separate entity (monopoly service provider with regulated prices). We keep the same meter when we change retailer!
The main impediment to the adoption of smart meters is the many well documented and proven reports of major software errors leading to ridiculously large estimates of bills (£12,000 to £20,000 overnight has been reported).
Unless and until the smart meter industry gets it's act together and delivers a reliable and credible product they will NOT be adopted widely.
it's yet another symptom of the appalling lax software testing undertaken by most software companies nowadays, the concept of "Chinese walls" between independent development and test teams seems to have been completely lost (or never even heard of) in most modern software development - the exception being most telecoms companies.
Another factor reported today in the UK press is that the assumption of consumption cuts of up to 10% (because of better usage data) is not being supported by data from those who do have smart meters - the actual consumption cut is closer to 1%. The high price of energy in the UK has made us all carefully watch and consider all our usage, so there isn't much slack left for the extra data from a smart meter to assist energy usage reduction. Another example of the "green" argument being overstated?
