Critics of “smart meters” have often warned that the advanced electricity and gas meters can invade privacy by revealing when someone is and isn’t home.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, they have reason to worry.
The civil rights group on Wednesday reported that California’s three big, investor-owned utilities had disclosed individual account information on thousands of their customers last year, usually to government agencies armed with subpoenas. The vast majority of those disclosures — 4,062 — were made by San Diego Gas and Electric Co.
Sometimes the agencies were seeking billing, banking and address information that would help them locate individuals, according to a memo SDG&E filed with state regulators this spring. In more than half the cases, however, investigators received energy-usage data for the customers. Thanks to smart meters, that data can reveal when a customer goes to work, heads to bed or leaves on vacation, although it’s still not certain that investigators are using the information in that depth of detail.
How many records did Pacific Gas and Electric Co. release? Click here, and read on.
– David R. Baker