George wrote:

A lot of "greens" are solidly behind this technology as a way to
jack up prices in an effort to reduce electricity usage

You don't need to impliment smart-meters or time-of-use metering to
reduce electricity use.

You just need to increase the cost per kwh (or add a new tax or increase
any existing tax).

You mean just like commercial users who have had those options for a
really long time?

The commercial / industrial electricity market is FAR different in terms
of metering individual customers compared to the residential market.
The scale of use in terms of kwh per month is vastly different.

Individual residental customers do not use enough electricity on a
monthly basis to warrant the costs of new electronic time-of-use smart
meters, nor the associated costs of setting up and running the
communications network nor the new billing systems.

(example of how one company time-shifted their useage)

You're asking for lifestyle changes on the house-hold level to achieve
the same results as in your example.

Do you really think it's realistic to expect that to happen - when the
benefits (in terms of $$$ savings) are measured in pennies-per-day?