The long-awaited go-ahead for the smart meter rollout in Germany has officially been given with the recent “market declaration”. There is broad acknowledgement of the benefits and importance of smart metering in the urgently needed digitization of our energy supply. Yet the path to realizing widespread grid upgrades, to include intelligent endpoints for digital business models and future markets such as submetering, is by no means predetermined or free from obstacles. The rollout will be a significant feat in financial, technical and personnel terms, particularly for small and midsize municipal utilities.