1. Important Notes
2. Stories from People Who Were Home When DTE Came by to Install

• Installers should knock, but they don’t always. Remember, if your meter is not locked, they will proceed with installation. If you don’t have a meter guard or cage on the meter, you risk having them cut the lock or the meter housing and installing the opt-out meter. DTE installers have made it very clear that they will jump locked gates and spiked fences. They will not be intimidated by dogs in the yard. More than one person has thought their gate, fence, or dogs would keep the installer out, only to find a smart meter installed on their home.
• If you catch an installer at your meter, immediately start videotaping, photographing, or audiotaping  them and your interaction with them. They CANNOT forbid you from recording them. You will not be the only one to have done this!
• If they’re on your property, call your friends an neighbors immediately to come over. Witnesses matter. In one Ann Arbor community, the installers have been driven away multiple times by just one or two women coming out of their homes and telling the installers to leave: “She doesn’t want the meter. Leave now . . . . He doesn’t want the meter. Leave his meter alone.”
• Immediately after the interaction, write down everything that happened, including time and date. We may use these affidavits in a lawsuit.
• Please send us any video, audio, or affidavits.
• If you have not done so already, you should send DTE a letter telling them you will participate in the opt-out but must keep your existing meter. “I will participate in the opt-out program and pay all associated fees. However, I must keep my existing meter.” If you want to cite a couple of reasons, for example, “I am a breast cancer survivor,” or “I cannot sleep when exposed to digital meters” or whatever other reason, you can do so. However do not go into detail. DTE keeps records, and if you ever want to join a lawsuit, the less you say right now, the better.

As you will see from the following stories, experiences with DTE installers are varied. Remember, we mostly hear the “bad” stories. The people for whom the installer simply leaves usually don’t contact us because everything went well for them. Regardless of what kind of installer these people got—nasty or nice—they all still have their analog meter because they told they installer they refused the radio-on or radio-off smart meter and they had their meter locked up.

Story 1
This story is from the very first person who had an installer knock on her door and stood up to him.

I had a man from DTE come to my house last week saying , “I’m here to install your opt-out meter”.  I said, “No thank you!” and he said, “You don’t have a choice.  We either install this meter or we’ll cut your power.”  I took some time trying to get ahold of my husband to find out what to do, and the installer was tired of waiting, so he said he was going to leave and put me on his list as a “refusal.”  So, if you’re home when they come, I would refuse the meter.  If they give you hard time just say, “Put me on your list as a refusal.”

Story 2
An elderly couple who did not want a smart meter opened the door to the installer. They told him they did not want the meter. The installer told them he would cut off their power. The couple were afraid, and they let the installer install the meter. The installers have threatened other people in the same way. These people have said no, and they still have their analog meters. If you are paying your bills on time, they do not have a legal reason to shut off your electricity. DTE makes this threat because it scares the heck out of people, especially  when it is very hot or very cold outside. They threatened one woman who removed her meter with electricity shut-off. She asked why. They told her she had not paid her bill. She asked how that was possible, given that she had a several-hundred-dollar credit in her DTE account. Once she called their bluff, they backed off. Read more about DTE’s scare tactic in Phone Calls or Installers That Threaten You.

Story 3
A homeowner in a neighborhood that had been installed two years ago was sitting at her desk, working. Her analog meter was locked with a Master lock. She heard something inside her fenced back yard and ran outside. There was an installer! She told him to get the heck out of her yard. He was snide, and then a few minutes later tried to sneak back in her yard. She told him to get the hell out. She then discovered that he had cut her Master lock. She was moments away from having a smart meter on her home. She has now installed the Tatar Guard. This installer did not knock on her door, as they are supposed to do.

Story 4
Other people have reported incidents similar to the one below. Not one of those people has caved in to DTE’s threats and intimidation. All of them still have their analog meter because they told the installer to go away, and they refused to cave in when DTE called them.

A tech called our phone saying she was calling to determine whether we did or did not want the smart meter. I said we absolutely do not, and that I could see there was a DTE truck in my drive. She said that it was her, and did I want to opt-out? I told her that I had opted to keep my analog meter and had sent two certified letters saying so, as well as many phone calls.  She said, “You can't keep it,” and I said, "Yes I can, and I will." She told me to listen to her—that she was going to put the meter on and then disable the radio portion. I said, "No, you are not going to touch my meter." She then said that someone would be calling me and setting up an appointment for them to come out and replace the meter. I hung up on her and she left.

Story 5
I man from DTE just knocked on my door with an opt-out meter in his hand. I told him, “I refuse installation,” and he was very nice.