“Smart meters,” the new digital electric utility meters that are replacing older analog systems for measuring consumer electricity usage, are taking over the world. Since their introduction in the late 2000’s, the technology has spread rapidly around the globe, with implementation having already begun or in the planning stages in India, the UK, Brazil, Korea, and China. But where the technology has grown exponentially is also where there has been the more significant public concern about smart meters’ effect on privacy and safety of their users. While it seems that it was not so long ago that US citizens were fighting for women’s voting rights, we now find ourselves in a battle for our privacy when it comes to residential and commercial energy usage.
What is the Smart Meter?
The smart meter is a digital meter connected to your home that measures electric energy usage and communicates through a network access point to the power company. The meter also has the unique ability to allow you, the consumer, to track your energy usage on your computer from the overall monthly usage or down to the hour. In the US and Canada, many energy providers pass along usage information to the owners, allowing them to see where they are using the most so they may manage it appropriately so they may lower their bills, see more predictable bills regularly, and save energy for the environment. The smart meters’ connection to the power company creates what’s being called a smart grid, which adds technology “intelligence” and communication to the network of electricity dispersion. It allows for the tracking of energy usage, and allows homeowners to view their usage from laptops or smart phones.
Along with its positive aspects for helping monitor energy use wisely, this energy usage tracking is bringing up serious privacy concerns from citizens. Who looks at the data collected from our homes? What are they using it for?
Privacy Concerns
It has been noted recently that hacking into the network is not that challenging, and can be very profitable for the hacker. While the appeal of the new smart grid system is flexibility, better reliability, and more efficient systems, it’s the virtual communication that allows for these benefits that makes it easily accessible to intrusion. There’s the opportunity for the ever-watching government eye, cyberterrorism, false meter readings, and hacktivists (people who break into a computer system).
The data collected by providers is worth significantly more than the energy itself is worth. It was found that employees from energy providers were hacking into the system, selling information for the meters for anywhere from $300 - $1,000 for residential properties, and $3,000 for commercial. By using an infrared light connected to a computer, they are able to change the consumption recordings for the property.
Northeast Utilities, New England’s largest utility provider, is also concerned about smart meter security. In a released statement, the company said: “without resolution of the cyber-security [issues], it is not possible…to develop a suitable [smart meter implementation plan]. [Smart meters] introduce a brand new portal into the Companies’ information systems, significantly increasing the cyber-security risk.”
Government “Promises”
The U.S. government claims that it will work to provide better security against cyber attacks of this nature, working with Homeland Security to monitor the systems and encouraging the electric companies to invest in security systems. This, on top of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) recently released voluntary code of conduct as it relates to smart grids, does very little to ease the minds of consumers about data privacy.
With the large amount of information that is available from the smart meters’ data collection and the money they can make from it, why would the government want to protect us? The meters may as well be renamed “smart spies,” as they provide real-time information on the number of people living in a home, what they are doing, and (as some claim) even what they are watching on TV. Some of the information could be used by the police to determine whether or not you were home during an investigation and to find in-home pot farms that are otherwise undetectable. If insurance companies receive access, it could change your deductible depending on data showing things like how active you are at night, as a signal of insomnia and health issues.
Even if the privacy issues are resolved, there are still the very real physical threats to homes with smart meters. From Chicago to Reno, reports of meters catching fire and / or exploding more uncommon than expected. Reports involve homeowners finding sparks shooting from the meters, loud popping sounds, and entire homes ruined by fire. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in order to convince users that smart meters are not only beneficial to our wallets, but are also keeping our homes safe instead of endangering them.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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