Yeah this was in part because of H.B. 6 the nuclear bailout which is also related to one of the biggest bribery scandals in Ohio politics. The smart meters were mandated by the energy efficiency aspects of the renewable energy provisions that were stripped out so that they could give money to make nuclear energy and coal power plants stay on-line. They cut the renewable energy goals and energy efficiency provisions so they could pretend like they were saving consumers money by giving the $ directly to the nuclear plant owners. Of course most of this is on-hold right now due to the 60 million dollar kickback and court injunctions but so far the legislature doesn't seem likely to restore the energy efficiency aspects. The utility companies still benefit from real time monitoring of their customers and remote cut-off but I guess there is no way to interface with the meter directly now.