Are smart electricity meters a privacy risk?
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — With temperatures going up, a lot of North Texans are turning their thermostats down. That, in turn, can drive our energy bills up.
By now, most Texans have smart electric meters. These meters help consumers more closely monitor their electricity usage and reduce consumption to cut costs if needed. They monitor a home's energy use and transmit that data to a utility company about every 15 minutes.
Even though they've been around for years, some people still feel uneasy about them. CBS News Texas spoke with an expert to get to the bottom of a couple of claims made about these devices.
Do smart meters provide more privacy concerns than traditional meters?
Possibly.
According to Dr. King Man Siu, an assistant professor at the University of North Texas' College of Engineering, what makes these devices "smart" is the ability to capture data regularly and transmit that data to utility companies.
Dr. Siu said if the devices are hacked, that data could get into the wrong hands. "They can easily do the analysis for the household's activity that says which time you will be home."
CBS News Texas reached out to Oncor about these potential privacy concerns and they released a statement that said, in part, that their smart meter, or advanced meter system, was designed with security top of mind:
Can a utility company control your thermostat with the help of a smart meter?
Yes, in some circumstances.
With something known as a demand response program, an energy provider could control your thermostat, adjusting it a few degrees during peak periods of demand. But customers would need to opt in to this kind of program, and utility companies say customers can override any adjustment.
You can check your smart meter data at any time. Just sign up for an account at SmartMeterTexas.com.
