(Not Quite) Finished

Oncor Finishes Smart Meter Installation 10/31/11 - CBS 7 KOSA

Oncor has finished their installation of the Smart Meters around the Permian Basin. Oncor tells CBS 7 that there were some refusals to the meters, but they will be installing them in the next few weeks. The Smart Meter program is supposed to allow consumers to reduce their energy demand and lower their electric bills by the new technology. Many areas in Texas have switched to the Smart Meter program.

Oncor shrinks power towers in Dallas - WFAA

Those "monster" smart meters in one Dallas neighborhood won't be around to spook homeowners by Halloween.

Oncor sent work crews to an Uptown Dallas neighborhood to reverse the aesthetic damage they caused a month ago while trying to install new pedestals that would be compatible with the advanced technology of "smart" meters.

The utility company said it received dozens of complaints from residents after replacing low-profile meter boxes with five-foot towers to hold the utility's smart meters in the Uptown neighborhood.

"They were horrific, very ugly," said Michelle Kuehnemann, who lives on Buena Vista Street where one of the towers was installed in her front yard.

Many residents said they were upset that they pay high homeowners' association dues to keep the landscaping up to par.

"When they came in to install them, they were ripping out our shrubs," Kuehnemann said. "We were surprised, appalled and we were hurt."