Snooping California Edison

No one wants the government peeking into our homes or businesses—that’s our constitutionally protected right to privacy. So do we want the electric company to have such a capability?

I’m looking at a few snippy letters I received this year from Corix Utilities. I was privileged to get them after I refused to allow one of their crews onto my property to change the Southern California Edison meter that’s benignly and efficiently been doing its job on the side of my house since the place was built in the early 1970s. My power was to be shut off for the install, and that meant I could’t run my internet-connected business computers.

Edison and its non-union contractor, Corix—using a third party must save them some money as their own crews are unionized—think I need my power consumption monitored with a new digital meter. As a firm believer in the concept of  “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke,” and being naturally suspicious of government-sanctioned monopolies who claim they power my life, I gave Corix a call and was then handed over to Edison customer service as I wanted to know what they were planning for me.

Edison explains that these “smart meters” are, of course, for our benefit in that they monitor consumption on an hourly basis in order than we might analyze that data for conservation purposes, and presumably to find ways to reduce costs if we wish. What’s concerning is the notion that this data is gathered by Edison and stored in their facilities – which means others may look at it and perhaps question when and why I’m using their product (not that I have plans to grow marijuana in my garage, and I certainly wouldn’t announce it here).

More concerning is the idea that Edison may remotely turn off electric service to my home.  Presumably this occurs only if I’ve not paid my bill for some time, but the day’s coming when all the hardware is smart enough to shut off an air conditioner, or even turn it down if some nanny bureaucrat decides that power is better used or more valued elsewhere, or there’s just not enough of it on a very hot day. I don’t want someone having that kind of power over me or my home, and I won’t be allowing Edison or Corix on the property to change a perfectly good electric meter.

We lose our liberties, privacy and freedoms in small degrees. And such losses are usually couched in the idea that “it’s for our own good” or “your benefit” as Paul, the nice Edison rep kept trying to explain to me. No, Edison, you can’t monitor my power or nose around my house or protect me from myself. And if you set foot on my property without my permission, that wouldn’t be to your benefit.