Smart meters and burglaries

Egmond

While there have been well-publicised concerns about the vulnerability of smart meters to hacking and so on, there seems little mention in the media or online of the extent to which they will facilitate burglaries.

Almost anyone who works for a utility company, and consequently anyone they choose to tell, will be able to know, from sharp usage drop-offs, which properties on the system have become unoccupied. Any efforts on the part of householders to disguise or keep private the fact that they are going away will thereby be rendered useless or at least seriously compromised - their absence will be being signalled to possibly hundreds of potential viewers at the utility company.

There seems to be a possibility that accepting installation of these meters will at some point become compulsory, yet using them goes directly against the most basic advice given by police forces all over the country - don't advertise the fact that you are going away. We are already warned not to do this on social media and many people buy devices such as lightswitch timers (again police advice supports the use of such devices) but this is all for nothing if we are in effect telling the utility company employees and/or perhaps their friends that, despite indications to the contrary, in reality there is no one home. It is surely a certainty that burglars will target this information and go to some lengths to get it - when the alternative is random casing of houses to spot empty ones the smart meter network is an absolute godsend to them.

The only solution would seem to be to restrict the companies in normal circumstances to collecting the usage data at, say, monthly intervals so that its usefulness in this respect is limited.

Have any smart meter users on this forum raised this concern with their utility company? If so, have they addressed your concerns to your satisfaction?

boliston

The same could be said of broadband suppliers or landline suppliers as when someone is on holiday I suspect their broadband and landline usage will drop off just as much as their power usage.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Tin hats lads !

molerat

Oh No, I'm worried now - I've told the paper shop, the milkman, my credit card, the airline, the hotel and now my electric company are going to send someone to burgle my house as well :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Hi,

used to be when milk got delivered in bottles with foil tops, if there was a biuld up of unopened bottles you knew neighbour was either on holiday, and forgotten to cancel, or dead.

lstar337

I would suggest setting up a system similar to the one used by Kevin McCallister in Home Alone.

Turn on the lights, play some loud music, and set up some cardboard cut-outs to dance in front of the windows.

It's a lot of work, but if you have a smart meter it's really the only option to keep your home safe while you are on your holidays.

brewerdave

Install a system like Hive and lots of smart plugs -then you can sit on the beach switching the oven,TV, kettle & lights on and off all day on your smart phone!!

matelodave

People have a fair idea when I'm away. The car isn't on the drive, the caravan may be away as well. We've got a couple of lights on a timeswitch but the curtains don't open and close.

As said above my broadband and phone usage drops to zero and I tend to use my credit cards in other parts of the country so a smart meter would be the very least of my concerns.

Where do people get these weird ideas from

prosaver

brewerdave wrote: »

Install a system like Hive and lots of smart plugs -then you can sit on the beach switching the oven,TV, kettle & lights on and off all day on your smart phone!!

Or you could turn off all your electric for a week, hide in the cupboard and wait for them

lstar337

matelodave wrote: »

Where do people get these weird ideas from

Crackpot websites, and the posters who promote them. :rotfl::rotfl:

System

I don't want to worry the OP but as it is looking increasingly likely that the Govt will find a clever way of 'insisting' that we all get smart meters, the National Grid also needs 30 minute usage data to manage peak energy demands. Clearly, the only answer is to stay at home 24/7!