"BoPL could have offered an escape from extortionate line rental rates"
Nahh, you know that is really a "wealth transfer fee" and the power line providers would just come up with an equivalent fee.
"brought new NV providers into the market and service 100% of the population on top of doing the main job"
And blasted noise throughout the RF spectrum into all kinds of both licensed and unlicensed RF bands, making conventional radio and television useless for some, as well as interfering with ham use (including in emergencies) Even the figures provided by those who wanted to provide Broadband over Power Line showed unacceptable increases in noise levels (the BoPL provider just hemmed and hawed that these high noise levels were not *really* a problem...), while field tests in the few areas running trials (or god forbid operational systems) show even higher noise levels than the figures indicated.
My question is... Zigbee to a "home hub?" What "home hub"? Why on earth would I possibly permit a device to a) Clutter up my space, b) Use the internet connection I'm paying for, and c) Use some of the very electricity they are billing me for, in order to a) Intrude on my privacy by providing minute-by-minute power usage* and b) While reducing the power company's operating costs by no longer having to send meter readers, giving them an excuse to raise rates? Why wouldn't I just unplug this unit and shove it in a drawer?
*Before you think this is tinfoil hat territory, it's pretty easy to determine use of washer, drier, computer (notebook versus desktop), printer, game system, lighting, probably even to tell if you are charging your phone or not with that level of detail power meter information. (Unless you do it with lights off) they could even infer when and how often you go to the bathroom. EU may have privacy laws but the US does not, utilities here are ITCHING to get this kind of information so they can sell it as "marketing information", and I think home habits are none of the marketer's business.