said by Jack_in_VA:said by fifty nine:said by Jack_in_VA:Our POCO has a very effective phone outage notification system. They don't need to spend the millions required to replace the meters they just replaced a few years ago to allow remote reading.
As with anything there can be many justifications thrown in to mask the true intent which IMO is not notification of an outage.
When I'm not home I can't call if power is out. Meanwhile my fridge is getting warmer.
I like that they know when power is out.
How many times does that happen? I've been here since 1989 and had many power failures and only lost food one time and that was after Isabel when the power was out 17 days and no meter smart or not would have made any difference one way or the other . Besides I have insurance to cover a "REAL" loss. You're grasping at straws. Your opinion is your opinion only and is subject to review by others.
Others like myself have several power outages per year due the weather or due to people running their trucks into power poles.
We do have a smart meter, but all our power is underground for several miles, so the power company only gets the power readings when they drive up our roads with their antenna pointing at houses or cabins in the forests.
When the power is out for more than a few hours, our CenturyLink phones no longer work. We have no phone service, we have no cell service, we have no power.
So if these meters help us in the surrounding areas to get power back quicker, then its ok by us.
A claim on insurance makes the premium go up, or at least stops it going down.