chaniarts wrote:

most of the remote read electric meters being discussed here are
readable without ANY labor costs, as they can be polled from the
utility computers directly.

And if the utility gets home owners to foot the entire bill for the
meters, computers and software, then in this equation we have customers
forking over $500 over the lifespan of the meter just so the utility can
save $100 in meter-reading costs over the same period.

Brilliant economics there.