Do people have to come into my home in order to install smart meters?

[thumper60]

If your breakers are inside the installler will want to come in to be sure that everything is properly shut off. If he doesn’t, it could cost him his job, or his life. Removing the meter with power running and your main breaker on could “melt” the meter mounts (I know of this happening), resulting in total loss of power until the utility co. comes out to repair.

The installler may be “cool” if you have everything shut off (all breakers and +main), but I wouldn’t bank on that.

huh they never even shut my power off pop off old old pop in new one 15-20 mins never came into house or even knocked on door don't have to kill power to change meter all the power is behind the meter just plugs in have u had one put in

 

[budman111]

Just like the title says. I'm supposed to be having Smart Meters installed in my area this summer so I'm wondering if I will have people inside my home in order to do this

No and there is lots of evidence not to get one, risk of fire, can be hacked to show no electric usage when away on holiday so on....

 

[NugHeuser]

My concern with trying to deny getting one is that the average household could care less about it, in fact, most average people would probably consider it a good thing, an upgrade. So if a guy goes fighting tooth and nail about getting one, I think it would raise suspicions on the tech side.
@budman111 this is the first time I've heard about them being able to cause fires.. You know of any links to articles I could read on that? And with it being more electronically advanced I'm sure it could be hacked in some sort, but who would even care to do that? How would hacking someone else's smart meter benefit the hacker?

 

[budman111]

My concern with trying to deny getting one is that the average household could care less about it, in fact, most average people would probably consider it a good thing, an upgrade. So if a guy goes fighting tooth and nail about getting one, I think it would raise suspicions on the tech side.
@budman111 this is the first time I've heard about them being able to cause fires.. You know of any links to articles I could read on that? And with it being more electronically advanced I'm sure it could be hacked in some sort, but who would even care to do that? How would hacking someone else's smart meter benefit the hacker?

Hackers can see when you have no electric usage and so no one has been home for X amount of days/weeks.
http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/warning-smart-meter-fire-risks-refuse-smart-meters/

 

[NugHeuser]

Well given that article, there are legitimate reasons why one could refuse them.
I suppose I'll have to think on this one.
With those reasons out there why smart meters could be "bad", I could always call the company questioning these "smart meters" and sounding worked up over the risks it poses to my home, make myself out to be an old school, "dont try to fix it if it ain't broken", over protective man with his newly bought home.. hmmm...
Something to think about.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

or you could just set a few things in your house up on a timer so it looks like someone is there. turn a lamp off and on a few times a day, a radio turned up just loud enough to hear from your door....i'm sure the hackers don't pay that much attention to an address showing activity, they're looking for idle addresses to begin with

 

[NugHeuser]

or you could just set a few things in your house up on a timer so it looks like someone is there. turn a lamp off and on a few times a day, a radio turned up just loud enough to hear from your door....i'm sure the hackers don't pay that much attention to an address showing activity, they're looking for idle addresses to begin with

Yeah this is something new to me, so the concern is getting robbed while on vacation? Makes sense.. definitely not a bad idea to leave a radio and couple lights on a timer if I go on vacation. I'll keep that in mind if I do have them installed.

 

[budman111]

or you could just set a few things in your house up on a timer so it looks like someone is there. turn a lamp off and on a few times a day, a radio turned up just loud enough to hear from your door....i'm sure the hackers don't pay that much attention to an address showing activity, they're looking for idle addresses to begin with

That uses almost no electricity at all, the point of hacking is to break into your home because they know you are not home due to the limited eleccy usage, a good few 100w bulbs maybe.

 

[Fubard]

Yeah this is something new to me, so the concern is getting robbed while on vacation? Makes sense.. definitely not a bad idea to leave a radio and couple lights on a timer if I go on vacation. I'll keep that in mind if I do have them installed.

You don't do that now and you worry about someone hacking your meter to see when you're on vacation?

I'll let you into a secret, you don't need to hack a smart meter to know if there's no activity because someone is on vacation, especially if you live in a quiet suburb or in a non-urban area...

 

[whitebb2727]

they could be able to detect what you're running.
every electrical device brand has a unique signature, something about algorithms.
They just dont care, until leo requests your usage record and they gladly hand it over
if paperwork is in order. My installer put two meters on our property wearing a
tshirt with a short sleeve dte shirt over it and dark jeans.

There is a company that has the algorithms to do it. The catch is its only in a pilot program right now in another country. The US isn't using the program yet.

I wouldn't worry. Who cares if they could tell anyways. Grow equipment is not illegal.

Tell them you have fish tanks with corral growing.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

tell em to get get a warrant and a bulletproof vest, cause you're gonna need both if you wanna come in my house.
as far as this company that can tell what you're running in you're house with an algorithm, there are a million ways to beat that, i can think of a couple with very little effort. make yourself a big power conditioner at your main box, make it run a square sine...let their algorithm munch on that for a while...or just sue the fuck out of them when they start to use it...its no ones business what i do with electricity once i buy it, if i want to build a huge tesla coil and use it as a block sized bug zapper, thats my business, and you're invading my privacy, lets go talk to the aclu about it

 

[whitebb2727]

Well given that article, there are legitimate reasons why one could refuse them.
I suppose I'll have to think on this one.
With those reasons out there why smart meters could be "bad", I could always call the company questioning these "smart meters" and sounding worked up over the risks it poses to my home, make myself out to be an old school, "dont try to fix it if it ain't broken", over protective man with his newly bought home.. hmmm...
Something to think about.

To me it would be a bigger risk for the meter guy to come once a month and read the meter. That's 12 times a year that something could go wrong. Filter failure and the meter guy can smell it.

No reason to refuse one. They are fairly safe. As far as being on vacation just run a few bulbs on timers through the house. Digital ones and change the time they come on each day.

 

[Odin*]

huh they never even shut my power off pop off old old pop in new one 15-20 mins never came into house or even knocked on door don't have to kill power to change meter all the power is behind the meter just plugs in have u had one put in

The meter “plugs” directly into the “power” between the city’s lines and the house. How do you think it reads how much travels from the lines into your house? The main breaker has to be off, with all other breakers off to be safe. Even if he didn’t implement safety precautions, and managed to remove/replace the meter without incedent, your power would be off while the meter is disconnected. No meter, no power.

I know of two morons that almost killed themselves (young electricians). Both melted the mounting prongs. There were witnesses to moron 2’s debacle. They said that there was an arc of electricity from the removed meter in his hands to the mounting prongs. Scary. You can get away with stupid shit in other trades, but do not fuck around with electrical.


Edit: They didn’t “knock” or come inside because your panel is probably outside, like most. OP’s panel is inside, within the Grow room.

 

[thumper60]

The meter “plugs” directly into the “power” between the city’s lines and the house. How do you think it reads how much travels from the lines into your house? The main breaker has to be off, with all other breakers off to be safe. Even if he didn’t implement safety precautions, and managed to remove/replace the meter without incedent, your power would be off while the meter is disconnected. No meter, no power.

I know of two morons that almost killed themselves (young electricians). Both melted the mounting prongs. There were witnesses to moron 2’s debacle. They said that there was an arc of electricity from the removed meter in his hands to the mounting prongs. Scary. You can get away with stupid shit in other trades, but do not fuck around with electrical.


Edit: They didn’t “knock” or come inside because your panel is probably outside, like most. OP’s panel is inside, within the Grow room.

explain why inside needs to shut down power comes in from pole thur meter box shutting off inside does nothing about power still flowing to meter box from pole,i think u reading it wrong his meter is out side,meters r outside breaker panels r inside never seen a breaker panel out door they not what I call rain proof

 

[whitebb2727]

explain why inside needs to shut down power comes in from pole thur meter box shutting off inside does nothing about power still flowing to meter box from pole,i think u reading it wrong his meter is out side,meters r outside breaker panels r inside never seen a breaker panel out door they not what I call rain proof

There will be a main outside to shut power off to the meter and house. I've seen breakers outside.

 

[chiqifella]

There is a company that has the algorithms to do it. The catch is its only in a pilot program right now in another country. The US isn't using the program yet.

I wouldn't worry. Who cares if they could tell anyways. Grow equipment is not illegal.

Tell them you have fish tanks with corral growing.

yeah, I have no worries. My electric company negotiated a proper flowering time for my best savings, then lowered my kw costs
The woman on the phone knew exactly what I was doing and spoke of it without hesitation

 

[eyelid]

I refused the smart meter and I get charged about ten bucks/mo for not having one.

 

[thumper60]

There will be a main outside to shut power off to the meter and house. I've seen breakers outside.

maybe its different where iam at,i have no main s/o at meter mine inside on my breakers,to have breakers out side must be different box than the ones inside never seen breakers outdoor but I live in the frozen north I can c maybe in cali

 

[thumper60]

I refused the smart meter and I get charged about ten bucks/mo for not having one.

yup they do the same here

 

[eyelid]

Struck up a convo with the meter reader. He said the power company had gone from about 20 old meter readers down to 2. Very few people opt out of the new meters, or even know when they're getting installed. They throw the notification letter in the trash.