The real problem

I've got a bee in my bonnet about the "real problem". The bee stuck there a couple of weeks ago while reading this article: http://http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/6227818/the-wiki-man.thtml - in particular the paragraph on getting to Birmingham by train.
It made me start thinking about what the real problem is and how the technology industry, as well as other industries, tries to solve that problem.
In the Birmingham train example, the real problem isn't that people necessarily want to get to Birmingham any quicker (or in my case ever!) but that they have too many things to fit into a day. So the solution of TVs on a train helps fit that extra thing into the day. And why stop at TVs, you could have massage therapy, hairdressers, GPs, tarot readers, bookies and exercise bikes! All helping you make the most of your journey and all of them costing a lot less than 120 miles of steel and concrete.
So I'm now on a mission to uncover the "real problem" behind all sorts of things. And then try and find the "real" answer.
First questions: What's the problem that a Smart Meter roll out is trying to address? Is there a better solution to address that problem?