Italy was the first European country to deploy a vast network of smart meters. Enel, its first utility, equipped 30 million customers with them. In 2000, Enel launched a major push to install the meters throughout the country. The effort cost the utility 2.1 billion euros over a five-year period. The huge project mobilized 4,000 Enel employees and 600 subcontractors, but it paid off handsomely. By reading the meters remotely, Enel expects to save 50% on meter reading costs alone. Customer relations also benefit from the new meters, which make targeted monitoring of electricity quality and real-time consumption statistics feasible. But the "misses" of the Italian operation were just as instructive to regulators in Europe's others countries. For example, when the campaign was kicked off in 2000, Enel opted for meters that use a secure-access, proprietary system. If the consumer wanted a different supplier, the new supplier had to make adjustments to offer the same services as the Enel meter – or else change the meter. That restriction made opening the Italian electricity market to competition a much more difficult task.  Since then, regulators in other European countries require that smart meters incorporate protocols that any supplier can access. Lesson learned!