Don’t get me started. I’ve been seeing this kind of crap around radio wave transmission sources since, oh, the early 80’s.
That said, “smart meters” have significant problems in that someone is going to figure out how to hack their bill by attacking the wireless signals. Same deal as for WiFi cracking. It can be done, and odds are, it can be done fairly cheaply.
My electrical meter is located in an odd place on my house, requiring the meter reader to come into my backyard, walk across my deck and kneel to read it. In addition, they have to encounter my dogs, and though nice dogs they do not like intruders.
It would be much easier for me personally if I had a transmitter on the meter. That way I wouldn’t have to corral the dogs and go out in the rain and mud to unlock a gate.
I suspect the number of problems with smart meter implementations will be akin to the number of cable TV interrupted transmissions.
Or in older recent times,...the number of VCRs which never had he right time, but always blinked.
Insofar as the smart meter allows the KWHr to be monitored at a point of service for the power customer, I think they are great tools.
Further encroachment, such as re-circuiting loads within the service domain, which is steadily advancing in the sate of the art, I find them to be too intrusive upon the domain of the property owner.
I invite them to try it on my company's meters.
We have better encryption than the credit card companies.