Many of those living more than a mile or two from a decent-sized town are probably used to slightly increased instability in the power supply. It now appears that the extra costs of extending and maintaining the infrastructure to provide electricity to remote(ish) areas are to be left to the discretion of the power supply companies.
This raises the possibility of those companies concentrating their efforts on areas of higher population where the returns are greater. So country dwellers can expect to see a less reliable service and much slower electricity. It is anticipated that disruption will be minimal with people just having to turn lights on a few minutes before they actually need to be able to see anything and having to put the Sunday roast in the oven midday on Thursday.
Seems unlikely? We seem to put up with a similar situation regarding broadband. Will the proposed broadband tax (should it ever happen) be the answer?