A little bit of background...
First, if you think Ofgen, and Ofcom, and all the other Ofs, are there to protect the interest of consumers of vital amenities, please ask yourself the question: Who regulates the regulators? Answer, the Government. So please give them a bit of slack - they spend most of their time rushing to implement one headline-grabbing half-baked scheme after another...
I'd don't know the current state of play, but here is how things were set up approx 10 years ago (when smart metres were first introduced)... Ofgem forces the big six energy companies (and only them, cause that is only fair!) to add an extra ~5% on all their bills (ie. on all your bills) and said "We are going to give this money back IF you install energy saving equipment/materials into peoples' homes."
Of course that allows the Government to go "Look at all the amazing things we are doing to save the environment!" without having to spend any of their money, or explaining that actually the money is coming directly from consumers...
But it is totally crazee... I mean energy saving is not the core competence of the energy companies, not something close to their hearts, not really in their best interests! Still money is money, so they get some contractors to stick a smart meter on your wall (who cares if it works!), or throw some insulation in your loft - low lying fruit!
So I hope that helps to explain the mess... Yes, there are technical problems, but after 10 years those could have been sorted out had there been some management. Instead responsibility is shared between Government always looking for a quick-fix with no long term commitment, large companies who want to make a profit (not unreasonably IMO), and in between is some not-for-profit organisation which was set up to collect and distribute all the data coming from the smart meters - I've never heard of them but I reckon they don't stand much of a chance!!
In conclusion - smart meters are good in theory, it is the implementation which has been poor.
Should you get one? It won't hurt you, but it might not benefit you either!