I was thinking about the ramifications regarding reassessment, not violating the parameters of our agreement. But it was off the top of my head. Feel free to come up with an example of your own. At any rate, it could be any unforeseen thing, really, and details of the what-could-bes are unimportant (to me.)

And our views differ in at least two other ways. I find the implication that one can only be concerned about invasion of privacy in terms of either data sharing or in-home surveillance but not both a bit silly. Also, I disagree that this is the only solution to improving efficiency of the electrical infrastructure. How is a log file of my home activity necessary? Where was the public consultation on that? I'll just put the smart meter in the maybe pile and wait for their next suggestion.

It doesn't interfere with a service agent's ability to perform his or her duty according to our current contract. I've attached a photo. I think it looks pretty sharp.

No. Vandalism is very much illegal in Canada. I'm surprised it isn't in the US.

It's not that I'm worried about the government watching me (well, at least not exclusively.) I don't like the idea of a personal file, out of my control and available to who knows. Maybe the details of my daily routine—when I'm home and when I'm not—will fall into the hands of some dude who wants to steal my shit. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I'm just not comfortable with it.

Edit: Oops, sorry for the double post. Those were supposed to be merged. D'oh!

Vandalism is illegal. But if you've impeded a utility from getting to an item to which they need access it's not considered vandalism. That's why they can bust it open (and in some areas charge you for the labor).
The dude who wants to steal your shit already has everything he needs: a claw hammer. He's not going to war drive your meter to deduce when you're home or not, he'll check the lights in your house. Insure your stuff.

Did you see the picture? The service agent can clearly read the meter.


Still don't care. Not comfortable with it. Beating a dead horse.

Look, I'm pretty paranoid myself, but you need to realize that your insurance company, bank, or anyone else doesn't need an excuse to screw you, they'll simply screw you if their attorneys advise them that they can. They really do not care about how much you're home or not. And if you still think they do, do you really never carry any kind of cell phone? I know you spend time online. If they're out to get you, they already have you.

Yes, smart meters can make a huge difference to the grid. You'd be hard pressed to find something a lot more effective at improving the overall grid for such a low capital cost.
Yes, I looked at it. If he goes out with a work order to replace your meter, well, I dunno what will happen up there, here they'll just rip it out and replace it.

So far municipalities are on the side of the refusers. Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe I will even warm up to the new system after I see it in action for a few years.

I respect your opinions, Orcish, I just have too many concerns and there is no transparency from the electric company to assuage those concerns at this time. For now, I'm opting out.

Eventually they'll either cave or the utility will get permission to charge a drastically increased sum of money to build up the infrastructure at which point they'll either pay or be cut off.

In your case, I'm guessing that they'll either destroy whatever you put in the way or they'll decide not to bother and just turn out the lights as you've prevented them from maintaining their equipment until such a time as you cave.

Yup if the contract states they can maintain and update their equipment he'll first get a polite knock on the door informing him he needs to remove it so it can be updated followed by his power being cut if he refuses...
The thing to remember is if their contract says they have the right to upgrade and repair and you break that contract they are within their rights to cut your power citing safety reasons (your preventing them maintaining their hardware afterall)

Let's just stop right there for a moment and role play this scenario. You are the electric company's service agent, soon to be put out of work by smart meters. You learn I have opted out of the meter upgrade program. You;

a) move on to your next assignment, happy in the knowledge that people like me are keeping your job from becoming obsolete, or;

b) take matters into your own hands, vandalize my house and violate the moratorium because you would gladly go to jail to defend the honour of the electric company.

a) you assume they give a damn if you don't have a legal opt out.
b) you assume it's illegal to upgrade their own property (it's not) it probably IS illegal however to bar them access to that equipment (theft is the first law breakage they could use)
btw did you know it's not illegal for them to break apart something stopping them getting at their own property it's also why they don't have to pay you if they dig up your driveway to patch a cable

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt because I don't know id the UK has anything like a moratorium, but here it is a legal suspension of activity that supersedes any contract. You are the one making assumptions.

Do you have a moratorium in place? and I mean literally have the sheet of paper from the court ordering it in your hand cause if you don't there isn't one.

The utility I worked at had load control for irrigation services similar to turning off air conditioners that I mentioned in my first post. An irrigator could opt out of being in the load control program, but not opt out of having a meter capable of performing the load control. Someone who opted out would pay higher rates than someone who was in the program. Also, someone who was in the program at the start of the season could opt out part way through if they thought it was important enough to be able to run the irrigation service when they needed to. They would then have to pay the higher rate for however much kwh's they used for the entire season though. Maybe this smart meter initiative will be something similar.

There's some down sides to load control. Most of the time it works fine but sometimes things happen, like a service not automatically restarting when it should have. Also, we would put lightning arrestors in a service to protect the load control system, but they can only take one shot and the electric company doesn't know if an arrestor has been blown or not. If it takes another shot, that particular system is going to be fried.

If it's a meter reader there to read a meter, yeah maybe. I think of it as freeing people up to do something else. If it's a work order to replace a meter, it's going to be a lineman that is sent to do the work because they will have to disconnect the service from the grid to work safely. I can't think of a much more secure job right now than a power lineman.

They'll likely knock and say politely that they need to remove whatever is in their way to replace that meter. If you let them, they're not carpenters, but they might try to put it back the way it was as best they can.

If you refuse and give them a hard time, they're trained to leave it at that (they will probably make a mental note of it the next time your power is out after a storm though) and return the work order with a note explaining why it hasn't been done yet. They can tell a deputy electrical inspector that they suspect someone might be stealing power. He might stop and make a visit. These guys sometimes have a big ego and if their inspector suit with bloused combat boots (it's a personal choice) doesn't impress you, he can return with a county sheriff. The electric company has the right to be able to check everything that's hooked up on the supply-side of the meter to make sure that there aren't any wires tapping in to anything above the supply-side of the meter socket. The sheriff will be a credible witness when the linemen remove whatever is necessary to check their side of the service and should they happen to find anything that shouldn't be there.


Edit: I looked at your photo again. I've been taught that if I was to find a broken meter seal, I can report it. If the electric company feels like it they can call directly to the county sheriff's office to get a deputy to watch a lineman open up that service on suspicion of stolen electricity. All without ever notifying the customer. The fact that a service agent can't see the meter seal might be reason enough for them to remove that enclosure if they wanted to. Consider it a courtesy that they haven't yet.

There is an obvious difference between maintenance and changing the terms of service, mr. obtuseypants.


Nice post, Kyle. Thanks for the level-headed responses and personal experiences. In my case the moratorium is on mandatory installation of smart meters. I'm not worried and I have made up my mind. Thank you all the same.