In message , at 16:12:12 on Sun, 8 Mar 2015,
ARW remarked:
Also, if you want to support your local organic cannabis farm, I
understand they compare smart meter readings with the street
sub-station to see if anyone has accidentally bypassed their meter.

Don't be silly. Sub stations are not metered.

But where did I say that that they were?

In your quote above. If the substation has no meter then what are you
comparing the sum of the smart meters usage with?

The concept is that the supply co. has some way of knowing how much
juice is being supplied from the station. If all of the houses
supplied have smart meters and there's a difference then there's a
problem and/or someone has bypassed their meter. Oh, 'accidentally'
should have had a smiley after it, sorry.

The substation also powers hundreds of legally unmetered supplies such
as street lights and traffic crossings.

You still might be able to spot serious greedy [unmetered] sinks of
power like the said cannabis farm. I think they prefer using infa-red
cameras in helicopters though.
--
Roland Perry