Check this: http://www.smartgrid.gov/
I've had several discussions with people about both meters and smart grid.
First, often the higher bills are due to the older meters mis-measuring electrical use; customers were getting free power for years. Some complain, others are grateful for the freebies.
Second, time of use really impacts cost of generation. Times of high demand require more expensive and less environmentally friendly forms of generation, so if you apply the rules of supply and demand on an hourly basis, higher costs during high demand make sense.
But it takes smart meters to know at what times your usage is high or low.
Another way to look at the same dynamic is to say that smart meters make it possible to know when you're shifting load to low demand so that you can be charged LESS for it.
Basically, you go online and can see when your usage is occurring.
Since when is knowledge a bad thing? (is what I tell the freepers)
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