XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Mon, 27 Oct 2025 20:24:16 -0500, Jay Morris    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 10/27/2025 5:09 PM, Your Name wrote:   
   >> On 2025-10-27 15:36:44 +0000, Paul S Person said:   
   >>> 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.   
   >>    
   >> Most water meters here are in boxes* in the garden (for houses anyway).    
   >> The boxes have an easily removeable lid so the meter reader can quickly    
   >> access them to read the dial numbers. Technically it should be    
   >> relatively easy to either have a cellular / wi-fi meter that can    
   >> connect. At worst you could run an aerial cable along side the pipe and    
   >> up onto the house's roof (of course, that would be easiest with houses    
   >> being built or major rennovations).   
   >>    
   >> * "Box" is a relative term. It doesn't have a base and is simply slid    
   >> over the water meter as protection from weather, mowers, etc. Now that    
   >> the weather here is getting less wet, I'll have to remember to go out    
   >> and dig out our meter box so I can bury it a little deeper - the plumber    
   >> repair a minor mains leak recently didn't re-bury the box proerpy, so it    
   >> now sticks up above the ground level.   
   >>    
   >>    
   >>    
   >>    
   >>> Which is a pity, because mis-read/estimated water meters can cause   
   >>> billing problems.   
   >>    
   >> We had that. Because of the mains leak, the estimated amount directly    
   >> after the repair had been done was higher than it should have been.    
   >> Lukckily the water company here gives refunds for quickly repaired mains    
   >> leaks outside the house when you provide them with proof from a    
   >> registered plumber.   
   >>    
   >>    
   >   
   >Our water meter has a small black box sitting on top of it which is a    
   >wireless interface. I believe they just slowly drive down to street    
   >pinging each one.   
      
   That would work.   
      
   Some still might need to be read manually, physical objects being   
   prone to fail from time to time.   
   --    
   "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)