In UK, government predictions of the savings smart meters will generate for consumers are inflated, out of date and based on a number of questionable assumptions

See Smart meters to save UK households only £11 a year, report finds: Report by MPs and peers says predicted benefits of scheme ‘likely to be slashed further’ by The Guardian. Excerpts:

"the rollout of smart meters risked going over budget, was past its deadline and must be reviewed immediately.

The £11bn scheme to put 53m devices in 30m homes and small businesses by 2020 has been “plagued by repeated delays and cost increases”"

"high numbers of the devices had gone “dumb” after installation because of problems caused by switching provider or mobile data coverage."

"suppliers were almost certain to miss the 2020 rollout deadline and that its benefits were “likely to be slashed even further”."

"the entire programme has been funded by customers through higher energy bills"

"they are not presently guaranteed to see the majority of the savings that do materialise,”"

"2016 paper by the BEIS that said the expected saving on an annual dual fuel bill in 2020 had more than halved, from £26 to £11.14.

Costs are increasing meanwhile, with spending on installation £1bn more than planned, threatening to eventually outstrip the £16.7bn gross benefit the project was supposed to deliver."

"The suppliers have fallen behind schedule, however, with just over 11m smart meters reportedly operational as of March 2018. That leaves three years to fit more than 40m by the 2020 deadline"

"suppliers were still rolling out obsolete first generation meters, which were supposed to have been succeeded by November 2016.

"more than half of the smart meters, about 500,000 a year, had gone “dumb”"