Do I need to get rid of my Smart meter and switch to an analog? (Itron Gen5 Riva, image included)

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https://i.imgur.com/c2e9Prm.png

Above is a photo of my smart meter. Chatgpt says that this is a Itron Gen5 Riva smart meter, which uses low-power RF in the 902-928 MHz band. They are designed for a mesh network.

Effective range is 100-300 feet, up to 1000 feet line of sight. chatgpt says these are not blasting long distance like a cell tower. Short bursts, communication cycle includes a 15 second transmit window, radio is OFF most of the time, turns on briefly to send packets, dozens to a few hundred transmissions per day total, few seconds per transmission.

This thing is on the other side of my house from where my bedroom is. And I'm basically never hanging out around the side of the house where the smart meter is. So do you guys think I should still pay the fee to have it removed and switched to analog?

my options are:

  1. Replace existing meter with a digital, non-communicating meter $221 one time fee

  2. Replace existing meter with an analog meter $156 one time fee

and then I have to pay a monthly $48 fee after that.

I ordered a safe and sound pro 2 which should be arriving today so i can check for sure but what do you guys think? From what chatgpt is telling me about this thing and the fact that I'm never on that side of the house, I would think my router's wifi and my cell phone has a bigger impact on my sleep than this smart meter right? Thanks all.

Posted Apr 3, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

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