Flickr / tolomeaSmart meters are said to help people see how much energy is being consumed in real-time so they know where to cut usage.
But not everyone's eager to have them, finds a new study by PikeResearch.
A lot of consumers aren't familiar with how they work, and they're concerned the new devices would lead to higher electricity bills, and "Big Brother" monitoring and controlling their energy use.
One consumer group, StopSmartMeters.org, is committed to defending the analog meter and contends smart meters represent a real threat to the job market (meter readers would get the ax), and that proximity to the meters would lead to health complications like tinnitus, headaches and nausea, as a recent survey by EMF Safety Network discovered.
Then there's the issue of whether the meters even provide accurate, fair assessments.
While some of these arguments do carry weight, GOOD's Sarah Laskow feels that in a time of rising household bills, consumers owe it to themselves to ignore the naysayers and cut down costs:
"It helps to know how much you're consuming and which habits are hurting the most," she writes. "Smart meters provide this information, and just as you might skip that cookie once you know it's 200 calories, you might think twice about using your energy-sucking microwave once you know how much money you've been wasting on it each month."
Tell us: Would smart meters do more harm than good to consumers?