I also would like to remove the Standard Battery meter.
Instead I intend to use the "Vista Hide battery" meter.
I have already tried the following.
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell\ShowTitleBarClock = 0
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell\TBOpt = 0
This got rid of the battery icon but caused a portion of the volume or the Network signal strength be be overlapped in black, hiding the icon. It will look as though its going to work at times but will eventually hide the icon at some point.