In article ,
Mike Barnes writes:
Currently I read the electricity and gas meters at the end of each
month, fill in an online form, and pay for the actual usage near the
middle of the following month. I'm very happy with this arrangement.

My supplier (First Utility) has offered me free "smart meters".

http://www.first-utility.com/home-en...t-smart-meters

A smart meter takes automatic readings of your energy usage
It sends the readings via a mobile communications link to First Utility
We make your energy usage data available to view online
You receive an accurate, monthly energy bill

Experience tells me that if something is free there must be a downside,
but I can't see it. Is there one? Is this a consumer-subsidised scheme
like those "free" CFLs?

They have the ability to remote disconnect you without any visit.
Some people might regard that as a disadvantage.

Personally, I think this control needs to be taken away from the
suppliers and passed to an independant body which will require
some suitable evidence and/or court order before allowing
disconnection. I'm not very comfortable with the suppliers being
able to control it themselves. There's also the issue of this
control being broken into due to poor security - imagine if some
school kid in Russia finds he can switch off the power to
10 million UK homes at the push of a button on his laptop.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]