A lot of people seem to confuse the smart meter with the in-home display (IHD).
The actual smart meter (the one that replaces the old one, most likely in the same place) sends regular readings back to the supplier, so you should get accurate billing without you having to manually read it and send the readings to the supplier. Very useful for those who have trouble accessing or reading their meter.
You very definitely can't rip that out of the wall!
It is the in-home display that sits on your worktop (until you get sick of the sight of it and throw it in a drawer). That display is the device that is supposed to frighten you into using less energy. They can show various info, but when it comes to the supposed 'cost' of the energy you have supposedly used, they are to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Personally, I haven't got a smart meter yet (was supposed to have one fitted a few weeks ago but there wasn't room for it, so our network provider will have to resolve those before our energy supplier can put one in). However, my mum does. She can no longer read her own meters, so they are great for her. The HID, on the other hand, scares her, and convinces her that she is using more energy than she did previously. I keep an eye on her energy account, so know that she is definitely not using more, and her actual bills reflect this.
The only daily standing charges that either she or I pay are those that almost all of us are already paying on our energy bills, whether we have smart meters or the old meters.
