It's hard to overstate the failure.

The plan was to have 50 million smart meters installed *by* 2020 at a cost of £10bn.

The scheme began in 2011. To date it has only achieved a third of that. Takeup has slowed since '17.

Nobody believes the govt's or retailers' claims. https://twitter.com/nmrqip/status/1273908805898768384

This is because everybody knows it is not in the consumers interests.

The govt claim it can save a pitiful amount of money. But it can only do so if you're willing to organise your life around the time-of-day pricing.

That means if you can't reorganise your day, because you've got kids and a job, you're going to have to pay a premium if your family wants to have showers and cooked breakfast in the morning. That's when electricity will be most expensive.

The price mechanism is *intended* to ration usage.

It is literally there to punish you for using electricity when you need it.

The government and opposition parties decided in 2008 that you do not need energy when you need it. That decision transformed politics.

Now, the government decides what you may have and when you may have it. Accordingly, they can decide to ration electricity in order to mitigate their failure to oversee the provision of infrastructure and to meet the public's need. It serves them, and their cronies.

Energy companies will be free to manufacture scarcity to increase their profits. They have no incentive to make sure there's enough supply to cope with demand from EVs, transport infrastructure, industry and domestic consumers.

The promised savings will never arrive.

This is the inevitable consequence of transforming the relationship between government and people, and of putting ecological imperatives before human needs.

The eco-spivs LOVE it. They can smell the money.

It's already happening. It is built into their business plans. https://twitter.com/aDissentient/status/1273930354945142790

Take up has been slow because most people are equipped with the senses necessary to know when they're being scammed, even if they don't know the details of the scam.

The rest has been coercion.

Remember: gas-boilers are going to be banned in new homes (thanks, Boris) and this ban will roll out to all homes.

Thanks to the smart meter, many families will simply not be able to afford to shower in the mornings.

Remember, also, that motor cars are going to be banned. The power to use EVs will come from the grid.

"Oh, it's okay, the power will be delivered from the grid when demand is low", say the green blob.

Do they mean from solar? At night and the early morning?

And if all of the EV's are set to charge when the price is low, guess what happens...

The price goes up!

Yep... The proles, who haven't been able to afford to eat properly or shower will be forced to queue to get on to overcrowded -- but electric!!! -- busses.

What greens hate most is that currently, even people on very modest incomes can afford cars. https://twitter.com/OscarBlaketon/status/1273936298105921537

So, ALL of the putative benefits of the smart meter (to the consumer) will evaporate.

You will be forced to organise your life around the little box.

And if you can't afford the consequences? Well, so what? Go f*** yourself, the government and the retailers don't care.