Friends of ours don’t have much money.
They lie about their meter readings , enabling them to even out the summer and winter bills. The important thing is the bill is always paid . Technically they may be behind in the winter but catch up in the summer. Also , off topic but relevant and representative of real people out there, they spread their council tax payments over 12 months instead of 10. Not huge really, just makes it easier for them.
personally I don’t think there’s anything smart about the meters.
Do they not use your electric to power themselves, or is this factored into the tariff?
They are powered from before the meter, so no one pays for it but the supplier. I also spread my gas and electric payments out through the year at the moment - I pay a fixed DD, based on my usual annual consumption of each. I do have smart meters, but they are dumb at the moment.