The old meters did essentially the same thing as the old with two key differences: 1)the old ones required a meter reader to come to your house and check the reading 2) and only showed your power consumption between readings. The new system sends data daily (which normally you can access and is useless for real time information) and allows you pin point high energy usage over time. The data doesn't tell you when you're home or asleep because many people sleep with TVs and lights, my mother in law used to leave the TV 24/7 wither she was home or not I'm sure she not the only one.
So if you were looking for privacy you never had it with the old systems and don't have it now with the new. If you want privacy learn to live off the grid (no outside power, phones, internet). Otherwise learn to live with the fact that as long as you purchase a service from someone you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy unless specified in your contract for that service. It would be like hiring a maid without forcing them to sign a non-disclosure agreement and getting mad at them when they talk about the going ons of your house.
This is like comparing a model t to a 2011 caddy, their both cars, but one has infintely more tech behind it.
1st. Wireless tech. These are 1watt transmitters. Everything you do is INSTANTLY fed into the meter and sent to a data base. None of this once a month/day total use billing.
2nd. Every second of the day is logged. With it they can tell exactly when you do anything. Go to sleep,wake up, leave for work/vacation etc etc etc... So the tv is on 24/7 that will be taken into account and when the tv is shut off, then that will be noted as well. I could compile a very accurate proile of your life within days of compiling a complete electrical survey. By complete, I mean when you flip a switch in a room or plug your toothbrush back in after use. People are creatures of habbit.
3rd. (un)lawul use. This has already been used to analyze profiles and obtain warrants to search homes for grow op, everybody feel good about that, and to charge people who were running servers without the proper business license. Still feel good? So leaving the tv on 24/7 may not be such a good idea. Any profile that falls outside of the norm, is subject to investigation. Hope you have all the right paperwork( for your area).
4th It doesn't belong to you. What do you think is being done with this data. All of this effort so you can see your bill? Their doing this to make your life easier? Give your head a shake. It's being SOLD! Telemarketers love this. Now I KNOW with an extremely high probability when your home. You get unusual days off say tues/wed. I know that as well by your energy use.
No more generic most people home by six/weekend crapshoot.
All they could tell with the old system was how much power I used in a month or maybe per day. Not exactly, and I mean to the second, when I turned something on, exactly how long it was on for and by extrapolation of watts used, what the device was.
Privacy. No one has had privacy since the late 80's. So stop with the off grid crap.