Smart meter

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A smart meter is an electronic device that records utility (e.g., electricity, gas, water) information, such as:

Consumption of electric energy

• voltage levels
• current
• power factor

Consumption of lP (propane) or Natural gas

Consumption of water

The smart meter can then communicate the information to the consumer and utility suppliers. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier.

Consumer-impact summary

Smart meters are in and of themselves mostly harmless, but when coupled with third parties collecting, processing, and retaining data this could put the end user at risk of data leaks:

• User Freedom: Many of electric, water, and gas distribution companies are asking or requiring customers to switch to smart meters. In some cases customers can opt out if they pay a monthly fee and in rare cases companies will allow customers to opt out for free.
• User Privacy: Most smart meters use third parties to collect, process, and store data without the customers knowledge. This data can be used to infer patterns in electricity, identify when users are home, identify what appliances they are using, etc.
• Business Model: Utility companies typically do not disclose to their customers what is happening with the data from the smart meter, tell customers what brand smart meter is being installed, or inform customers of the third party smart meter companies' privacy policy. There is also something to be said for removing unskilled labor positions from the job market (i.e., meter readers) and paying a third party smart meter company instead.
• Possible Security Issues: remote manipulation.
• Demand pricing: Utilities can change the price of electricity over a day or week, for instance raising it when demand is high or supply is low. It is often difficult for consumers to shift major usage to off peak times, so many consumers wind up paying more with demand pricing.
• Accuracy issues:
• Cost and longevity: Smart meters are more expensive than traditional meters, they are also harder to recycle (having many more types of material in them). For example, a traditional electric meter can run for 70 years. It is hard to build smart meters that will not become obsolete much sooner than that. (For instance, encryption becomes vulnerable.)