XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:35:15 +1300, Your Name    
   wrote:   
      
      
      
   >As I said (twice) we have owned the house since new and smart meters    
   >didn't even exist when it was built, so didn't have one. We never asked    
   >for a smart meter and we were never told one had been installed, so we    
   >had no idea we did now have a smart meter. Presumably the power company    
   >went around installing them (without notice for some silly reason) at    
   >some point so they could save on wages and fuel costs of having real    
   >people employed as meter readers.   
      
   They told us about it in 2021, as I noted in another post.   
      
   And they also allowed an opt-out, for a fee to pay for having someone   
   come out and read it.   
      
   Cutting down on meter readers should have slowed down the rate   
   increases a bit.   
      
   But different cultures do things different ways.   
      
   This is unlikely to happen with water meters -- at least here --   
   because they are mostly buried in the ground and getting a wireless   
   signal out might be difficult.   
      
   Which is a pity, because mis-read/estimated water meters can cause   
   billing problems.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)