Smart Meters Eliminate Jobs, But Don’t Bring Much Else?

Smart electrical meters were supposed to eliminate thousands of inefficient meter reading positions, and usher in a wave of intelligent energy consumption, letting people conserve energy until rates were cheap.

Well, the first thing happened, but not the second, and some people are bitter about it, according to an article in the New York Times:

And there is the reduction in the jobs themselves, Although the meters were paid for in part by the Recovery Act, which was supposed to stimulate employment, the effect of the meters has been exactly the opposite.

“It eliminated literally thousands of meter readers across the country, and no way has it created any type of permanent work,” said Michael Langford, president of the Utility Workers Union of America

“The meter-reading jobs were decent, good-paying jobs,” he said. “People were able to buy homes, pay their taxes, buy cars on them, and we eliminated those.”