People who object are going to lose, eventually.
The meter readers are going to be reduced and will be reading way more infrequently, and they will be getting estimated bills due to infrequent reads.
BTW - manual meter reading is very inaccurate, as were many of the old meters, which were very infrequently tested and overhauled. People could easily go 20 years without a meter test. You probably were lucky to have a “slow” meter.
25 years ago, I read meters and tested them. Going 20 years on any meter manufactured from the 1950's on is not a big deal. They hold their accuracy very well, and usually don't require any readjustment after 15-20 years of service. The older stuff, before magnetic-suspension bearings, yes, there were more mechanical issues with those. But we scrapped all pre-1950 meters in the mid 1980's.
As for meter reading, it's no more difficult than reading a watch. Errors do occur, but any small error is erased on the next month's reading, and any large error (typically, around 1 in 200 back in my day, probably less today with electronic reading recorders that they use today since they provide instant feedback to the reader) is/was kicked out for a re-read automatically.
Demand-type meters, which we did not use for residential customers, required that the demand hand be reset each month so the reader had to record the demand and then reset it physically. But us residential folks didn't need to touch the meter to read it, and usually could get an accurate reading from 15 feet away (couldn't do that any more with my eyes these days though).