I dare say, if they were talking about installing dumb meters as they are now the smarts, that there would be lots of scare stories.
They do not bite! They are just a meter providing better feedback to the customer, and the supplier. The customer gets a little indoor display, which shows current consumption of G&E, the supplier, likewise can remotely read your meter, and can get frequent updates. You are better informed, the suppler is better informed.
It went rather wrong from the off, in that the design didn't consider people might swap suppliers, so when people swapped they went dumb, but now they would seem to have addressed that.