Guess what happened to me while I was away from home?
Yeah, the city replaced all the old analog electrical meters with fancy dancy newfangled digital jobbies that I am sure are just as honest and reliable as the older models...now the city has their E-M hooks into me with their evil remote RF crap! So what I have been successful in thwarting on the water end (because they have to have willing access into the home, which I will not give) they've gotten with the electric.
Sometimes I absolutely loath modern life...
We got the in between ones. It's digital, but has to be read by radio wave, so they still have to drive a van up and down the street to read the meters. One of the few times a labor union went to bat for their members (the first plan would have done the full "smart" meters) and then laid off all the meter readers.
The first electric company guy that wanted to change it did ask, and I told him no, I was working at home and didn't want my computer to shut down. But it got changed sometime after that when I wasn't home. All the clock were blinking one day when I came in, asked the neighbor if the power had gone out, it hadn't. Looked around back, yup, new meter was there.........
They have this "offer" of a ten dollar discount if they can spin down your air conditioning on the hottest days remotely. Ah, no, that's the days I run the d@mn thing. Also so much that so called not remote not so smart meter too....... Guessing one day there won't be no discount and not optional either.