DTE is not the bad guy of the world. Why do people fear smart meters?
Meter doesn’t belong to her, any more than the transformer. Utility can’t be expected to maintain obsolete equipment just because some lady has an irrational fear of modern technology.
DTE says customers who choose to opt out will be charged a one time fee and $9.80 per month
I don’t see a problem with a woman exercising her right to opt out.
“Smart” meters are basically RF transmitting meters so that the meterman can simply drive through the neighborhood and his RF unit can get readings on the individual meters without have to walk up to the meter and read it. (In some neighborhoods, there is definitely a safety factor in doing that.)
But the meters can be read by anyone with suitable equipment, so that a person could might be able to tell if someone is on vacation from a serious of readings from a meter. This presumes the meters are not securely encrypted.
You can smartly opt of the Big Brother option of a big brother surveillance meter but she was
Lied to and threatened .
Dte was caught .
The installed on on our house last week. We came home to a note on the door telling us they had installed it.
The gov’t practiced with healthcare which it stole
through the EXEMPT Democrats and Romney, and kept
even today through the lying EXEMPT Republicans.
Coming: They want their share of everything from
tolls on every sidewalk to the CO2 you created to
help plants.
I pay $10 a month to opt out of Smart Meters here in Maryland.
There are lots of stories here of people getting radically more expensive utility bills and there’s no real method to get it fixed.
My folks have one. The power company (small utility) saves loads of money not having to drive up in the hills in all kinds of weather to read the meter, they can do it in their office.
She may not like smart meters but that’s what the company requires to use their service. If she refuses, then they have the right to flip the switch on her. She has other options such as using a generator or solar panels or a wind turbine. Each of those has pros and cons just like the electric company has pros and cons.
Uhhh...
It's a contract, lady. They get to choose the equipment and provide the power, and you pay. Don't want the equipment? YOU'RE IN MATERIAL BREACH OF CONTRACT, and you get no power.
Okay, smart-meter-hating FReepers: come out of the closet and ask your questions. I design these things for a living. I know all about them, down the the transistor.
The meters are the property of the electric company. If you don’t like the meters they want to use get off the grid.