Quasi-government incompetence, mostly, though caused by government cowardace: they more or less just shouted "smart meters, do it!" at the energy industry and let them try to sort it out amongst themselves, which means they had several false starts of crap impementations (the first generation didn't think to allow them to be transferrable between providers! The issues in the North are basically because they decided to go for a low-power mesh network, which is a plan that has basically never worked), as well as the fact that the government hasn't made it a requirement for homeowners, but has made it a requirement for energy companies, so they basically just beg the current holdouts (who have little reason to want one) to let them install one.