Keeping the Lights On: Utilities, Grid Technology, and the Data a Meter Sends Home
By Casey Scott McKay ·
A smart meter reports household electricity use at fifteen-minute intervals, and that stream reveals when people wake, when they leave, what appliances they own, and whether the house is empty. This article explains who owns that data, who may see it, and how a patchwork of state utility regulation rather than privacy law decides. It covers the intellectual property structure of grid technology — where patents matter, where standards essentiality bites, and why firmware ownership is the term vendors and utilities fight hardest over. It works through interconnection standards and the certification regime that gates market access for distributed energy equipment. It then addresses critical infrastructure protection obligations, which impose supply chain and disclosure duties unlike anything in ordinary technology practice. It closes with the regulated procurement environment that shapes every contract in the sector.
IP and Technology > Information Technology | Article | Published 5 October 2025 - Updated 11 December 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
The most intimate sensor in the house is the one nobody thinks about
A modern electricity meter reports consumption every fifteen minutes. Some report every five. That is between ninety-six and two hundred and eighty-eight readings a day, per household, forever.
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