funny, that one of the models you show here are called “Echelon”… (see Wikipedia about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_(signals_intelligence) )
Actually, smartmeters raise some serious concerns about people’s privacy: they are basically able to track people’s behaviour inside their private homes when using electrical devices or consuming water (shower, toilet, kitchen).

That’s why we, a a non-profit human rights organization based in Germany, would demand smartmeters only, if the behavioral data they gather are only revealed to the owner, but not the water or electricity company.
We actually believe, that a healthy democratic system need to protect privacy of the people to stay healthy and peaceful.

In short: a perfect smartmeter would inform the owner about his behavior and may give tips to her/him for lowering the consumption of electricity and water, but may only send the total amount to the water or electricity company for billing purposes. They do not need to know more.

Our hope is, that also environmentalists understand, that surveilling companies is good (forcing them to cause less social or environmental damage), but surveillance of private life is bad, because we need privacy for participating at democracy.

Viele Grüße/Best regards,
Ricardo Cristof Remmert-Fontes