As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Interval meter data from smart meters is intended to lead to smart consumers who will of course curtail their consumption at peak, it is hoped, once they see the data and know what the utilities know, that is, why peak consumption is such a bad thing. Long live flat consumption curves!

But first, we've got to get over the hurdles of installing the smart meters - and overcome the distrust that consumers have of their utilities. For make no mistake, distrust in institutions is at the heart of current protests of smart meter rollouts. It is up to institutions - the utilities, their regulators, and governmental bodies - to restore confidence by providing better marketing and consumer awareness programs in advance of meter rollouts and the inevitable time-of-use rate cases that will follow after the interval meter data starts to fill databases.

Intelligent Utility has provided good coverage of both the California and Texas smart meter snafus (I like Intelligent Utility), and the commentary here highlights the connection between consumer knowledge and progress.

What's interesting about all of this is not so much the testing and review plan, but who was complaining about high bills. Of the customers who called to request meter tests, about 75 percent of them had traditional meters. Apparently, December was the second-coldest one in 20 years and February was exceptionally cold, too. Certainly, some mistakes were found in final readings made before installing the smart meter, but it was also just pretty darn cold in the area. And, as this situation reminds us, weather can significantly impact your electric bill. Working with its customers, Oncor is finding that common reasons for the recent high bills include very cold weather combined with inefficient heaters, electric resistance heat and insufficient weather stripping and insulation.

The hysteria and significant media attention surrounding smart meters has, in a strange way, provided an opportunity for people to remember (or learn) that extreme cold and heat mean that electricity bills will likely go up. And, in the future, the currently criticized smart technologies will ultimately enable electricity customers to better understand the impact of things such as weather in real time, and then be able to take action to avoid the sticker shock they are complaining about now. That is, if they actually have a smart meter.