I can’t speak for all electric companies, but I do know for a FACT, that the electric company here does actually charge a fee to the customers for the meters. The charging of this fee was actually approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas. The amount of the fee is $2.11 per month for eleven years, which is $278.52, which was to help off-set the cost of the meters to the company.

@Redi Kilowatt- If PG&E meters are made by Landis & Gyr, they are actually made in Mexico, not in China. This is a FACT as well.

Chuck,
The problem is real and it tends to start as soon as the smart meter is installed. If you had an analyzer you would be surprised at how little or how much you are exposed to. Wireless radiation is not mandatory but with a kill meter it is.
Do some research Chuck, there is quite a bit given on this site. This phrase caught me, “you don’t get it until you get IT!”

Redi Kilowatt
This person is amazing. I can not believe people like this walk the face of the planet, I am amazed that this person can go to the bathroom without any help. You said Marcus has a brain dead attitude, well lets make sure people understand your incompetence as well. First off the meters were installed into your housing or building unit for free, in other words it means no extra charge. You do have to pay a fee if you did not want it, but from the sound of it you got ripped of because the people obviously though you were a schmuck and could rip you off so ho is brain dead now. And for you to say its cheaply made because its from China, well once again you must be brain dead since everything is made in China and is cheaply made so whats your point really, that is just a fact of life everyone must deal with. Everything we buy is from China and is made to break on purpose its all money and business.
Next we get it solar is expensive everyone knows that and going of the grid is impossible unless you want to go crazy and become a mountain man, but for those people who don’t get sun or the solar panels do not work, were do these people live? In the most remote places on the planet were they should not live? And this goes out to all those so-called wannabee environmentalists on this page and weirdo hippies, those people who live in the middle of a forest who cant use solar panels or get electricity are causing more harm to the environment were they do not belong and no human really should belong then this silly little meter. Believe i love the environment and i will protect it as much as i can but these environmentalist now days bark up all the wrong trees get in the worst fight over things that should not be, this is not the battle they should be fighting. They make it seem like this one meter is as bad as each house is strapped with nuclear waste. This thing give off radiation, well what thing now days does not. Do worry about a small device that is far away from you and gives of small amount of radiation, but do not worry about a Bluetooth device that emits cancerous radiation that will cause tumors in the brain and WiFi devices in your house that sends a signal to your computer by literally blasting through walls and roofs to get there. If your OK with these things then by all means good for you, if not then you better move to another planet because there is so much radiation in the air were you stand from residual devices that you will get cancer, so whats the point might as well except it while you have the chance and get some bonus out of what you have.

Marcus,
I was forced to donate to the socialized cost to buy SmartMeters for everybody who wants them. It was a forced sale, I did not want to buy a SmartMeter and I never had one installed on my house, but I still had to contribute to the PG&E corporate welfare fund to buy cheaply made pieces of junk (SmartMeters) made in China. And now I have to pay the socialized cost to pay for the removal of the JunkMeters. They charged me twice for a product that I never ordered, never received and have absolutely no use for.
Your brain dead attitude which is that the people have to buy something that the seller dictates/requires, smacks of militaristic corporatism, and has no place in a free society.
And, about feeling free to go off of the electrical power grid, there is nothing free about that. Many people live in locations where solar panels don’t work very well, or at all when the sun is not shining.
If someone wants to go off the power grid, they have to have an additional source of power, and that power requires burning fuel. Also, the cost to generate ones own power is over 100 times as expensive as buying it from the grid.
Solar panels, batteries, inverters, generators and fuel are very expensive, and nobody who has grid power available would ever go completely off grid. It is only the people who live in rural areas where there is no grid power available that have to invest tons of money to use electricity.
Marcus, have you ever been to school ?, if so, which ones ?. One would think that you should know at least a little tiny bit about electricity, even with a third grade education.