UK smart meter network to be upgraded to 4G connectivity

Once again, UK investment and implementation of infrastructure is shite not the concept of smart meters.

For an example of a proper smart meter implementation nationwide, look at Estonia.

100% coverage. Works brilliantly.

In fact it works so well there's companies that use the data generated by the smart meters to predict faults on the grid on the Low Voltage (LV = less than 2000 - 1000V in the electricity transmission world). That is unheard-of elsewhere because you'd normally have to install LV monitors for a few months on a location where faults have occurred to try and find it.

Fucking Tories, fucking Westminster, fucking civil service, fucking national grid, and the fucking utility companies all dragging their heels over this because the entire energy grid is privatised whereas anywhere else sensible, the national electricity backbone is nationalised with local networks semi or fully private.

Source: I work in th power industry.

I like my smart meter and I also enjoy not having some random potential rapist knock my door and expect to get into my home.

Smart meters will still work as dumb meters even if they are obsoleted.

Just to make the case for the smart meter. The UK energy industry is trying to bring something called market-wide alf hourly settlement into play, which is meant to make more energy use data available and therefore make it easier and more efficient to respond to changing demand.

Assuming you think it'll work, then smart meters will play a role in enabling greater renewables in a way that "dumb" meters can't.

I don't really like the idea of things being phased out so quickly either, but at least (unlike phones, TVs, computers, ebooks, smart watches etc) smart meters are being phased out to bring out to potentially lessen overall environmental impact.