More and more not complying with digitalization will get you into trouble. I don’t think it will be mandatory but expect to run into delays, similar to how you technically have the right to refuse the x-ray-like machine at airport security, but doing so is time consuming, everyone will hate you for it, and cause you significant delays, on top of making you look suspicious.
And it sucks.
If you think the average person understands watts, you live in a bubble, straight and simple. You have a very skewed notion of the average person.