A notice in my mailbox last week told me that smart meters are going to be installed in my neighbourhood. I'll admit that the geek in me would like to see real-time information about my energy usage, but as an economist I'm interested in costs and benefits of the program. So far we have seen lots of bold claims in their favour -- they're called "smart" so they must be good for us. But just like the promises of the paperless office and more efficient workplaces from computers, the lived reality tends to be different, and may even have unintended consequences.