[RonS1]

It's a shame that the main two people contributing possible answers to my questions appear to not have smart meters and are sceptical of them. Thank you to them however for attempting answers.

I feel I'm pretty well informed on green energy sources/systems having run solar PV since 2011. I'm using solar and batteries in conjunction with an half hourly agile smart meter tariff and automation using Home Assistant with Predbat, to achieve an average daily cost of 9 to 10 p/kWh for my electricity import.
I am optimistic that these techniques will eventually help with driving smoother greener energy generation. However the energy supply companies need to get better with providing knowledgeable staff for support and education. I'm talking to you EON Next.

[retrotecchie]

@RonS1

I started my solar journey in 2005 and completely agree that the energy companies in conjunction with OFGEM and several flavours of government just haven't got their joined up thinking hats on.

The Metering Equipment Regulations and the SMETS standards were designed by committee with no regard for either the end user and with little or no forward planning for including microgeneration in the energy mix. The communications were handed to a very expensive quango (the DCC) and were mostly based on a now obsolete technology (3g cellular) which is already being switched off way ahead of the government's 'sunset' of 2032.

It is my opinion that any smart meter being installed should be the correct model with the correct feature set for any given installation, but the current industry practice seems to be 'fit whatever is rolling around in the back of the van and hope for the best'.