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Why would you refuse if you can get detailed information out of a smart meter about your usage? You can save a lot of power by knowing what is going on and if y

Why would you refuse if you can get detailed information out of a smart meter about your usage? You can save a lot of power by knowing what is going on and if you have solar you definitely want a smart meter. You also don't need people coming by every so often to check how much electricity, water and gas you have used. Here in Switzerland 80% of homes are supposed to have smart meters by 2027 but it looks like it will take longer, we are at 20%[1]. Once you have one the energy company has to give you access to (by law[2]) it (rs232, Ethernet what every the device offers) so you can read the data from it. [1] https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/kassensturz/schleppende-digitalisierung-smartmeter-nutzung-noch-nicht-intelligent-genug https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/kassenstur... [2] https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2008/226/de#art_8_a https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2008/226/de#art_8_a

jjgreen 3y ago
Do you want people to know when you're at home? Fairly easy to do from electricity or water usage patterns. Supposedly only the utility supplier would have that information, but they are so incompetent at security, who knows who else? Certainly the police have access to that. Looks like a sensible security measure to avoid that exposure.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  Fairly easy to do with internet traffic as well. It's non-zero but more most people not likely a meaningful decrease in their privacy.
- sschueller 3y ago
  That is what laws and regulations are for.
- andylynch 3y ago
  You can also drive/walk past in the evening and see if the lights are on inside. Snooping a smart meter signal wouldn’t give away much more, and would be much for effort for a typical burglar
chrisandchris 3y ago
> [...] You can save a lot of power by knowing what is going on [...] I'm really curious how you go from "smart meter" to "save a lot of power". Just because I have a smeter, I won't save money. My regular meter already shows power consumption (not that convenient, that's true) and my smart meter won't tell me what actually uses my power. So, regarding saving power, it's the same as with a regular meter? How do you save energy by having a smart meter?
- daveoc64 3y ago
  I can easily see from the in-home display or an app on my phone how much electricity is being used in real time. This acts as a great reminder to switch off anything that's using a lot of power.
soco 3y ago
I miss the point of those "advantages" - so what if I know how much water my guests used? Should I run over them in the bathroom and stop them from flushing? Should I let people only come in summer, and tell them to bring their own batteries? Should I stop having guests at all? All because the smart meter told me they pee at noon? And same for my usual electricity usage. I know what I have running and I know what I should shut down, I'm living in this house right. Not like some device sneaks on me and plugs itself in when I doze off. Ok, when I become a solar producer I will probably be helped by smarted devices, but until then I'm totally missing the point.
forward1 3y ago
> Why would you refuse if you can get detailed information out of a smart meter about your usage? Why would you block ads when you can get "relevant" information on what to buy and consume? The same asymmetric relationship exists here: the power company gets a lot more benefits from this system than you do, in fact it may even be at your detriment and no one cares.

jjgreen 3y ago

Do you want people to know when you're at home? Fairly easy to do from electricity or water usage patterns. Supposedly only the utility supplier would have that information, but they are so incompetent at security, who knows who else? Certainly the police have access to that. Looks like a sensible security measure to avoid that exposure.

rcxdude 3y ago
Fairly easy to do with internet traffic as well. It's non-zero but more most people not likely a meaningful decrease in their privacy.
sschueller 3y ago
That is what laws and regulations are for.
andylynch 3y ago
You can also drive/walk past in the evening and see if the lights are on inside. Snooping a smart meter signal wouldn’t give away much more, and would be much for effort for a typical burglar

chrisandchris 3y ago

> [...] You can save a lot of power by knowing what is going on [...] I'm really curious how you go from "smart meter" to "save a lot of power". Just because I have a smeter, I won't save money. My regular meter already shows power consumption (not that convenient, that's true) and my smart meter won't tell me what actually uses my power. So, regarding saving power, it's the same as with a regular meter? How do you save energy by having a smart meter?

daveoc64 3y ago
I can easily see from the in-home display or an app on my phone how much electricity is being used in real time. This acts as a great reminder to switch off anything that's using a lot of power.

soco 3y ago

I miss the point of those "advantages" - so what if I know how much water my guests used? Should I run over them in the bathroom and stop them from flushing? Should I let people only come in summer, and tell them to bring their own batteries? Should I stop having guests at all? All because the smart meter told me they pee at noon? And same for my usual electricity usage. I know what I have running and I know what I should shut down, I'm living in this house right. Not like some device sneaks on me and plugs itself in when I doze off. Ok, when I become a solar producer I will probably be helped by smarted devices, but until then I'm totally missing the point.

forward1 3y ago

> Why would you refuse if you can get detailed information out of a smart meter about your usage? Why would you block ads when you can get "relevant" information on what to buy and consume? The same asymmetric relationship exists here: the power company gets a lot more benefits from this system than you do, in fact it may even be at your detriment and no one cares.