My mechanical electric power meter was replaced by a digital one the other day.
No more meter readers... it sends the data down the power line to the the local power station 1/2 mile away and then its sent to the power company in town.
When they installed it... I told them I understood how it worked, that I wanted rural high speed internet via power line and I would even be willing to test it for them.
I hear through the grape vine it will cost over 6million to do all the replacements for this area....confused grapes are not sure how that balances out. Paying meter readers is no where near that for over a 20 year period.