City of Washington is upgrading its electric & water meters to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) | Eastern NC Now

"The City of Washington is excited to embark on the Empower Washington Project. This project begins by upgrading its electric and water meters to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). The Empower Washington Project is designed to improve service, reliability, and customer service."

When I read this "to improve service, reliability" I knew there had to be more they weren't telling us.  I did a little more digging on these meters.  Seems they can collect data on users every 15 minutes to hour.  They also can be cut on or off remotely.  How will the data be used beside what they claim for efficiency and better service?  Why the need for so much data collection?  I have to wonder how these meters will be used to control we the people.  Also wondering how the new meters will affect our bills which are going up and up no matter how much we cut back on usage.  Seems there is a lot the "government" isn't telling us.

https://www.washingtonnc.gov/departments/ami_project.php