The ROI on these devices is spectacular; they drastically reduce truck rolls. They're obviously going to happen.<p>Without getting into treacherous water, I can also point out that control loops with remote meters are a major part of what the win DOE thinks it will get from the "smart grid": customers will be able to check boxes on their bills to enter into contracts that reduce their usage during peak periods, allowing the power companies to allocate more efficiently.<p>Having attended a NIST/EPRI workshop, plug-in electric vehicles (on the buy side) and SOHO-scale renewable generators (on the sell side) seemed to be top of mind.<p>To make these systems all work the way NIST/EPRI seems to want them to, you need more than just a continuous feed of usage data.