At my place the fee was much more if you opt out. They said they have to charge the extra cost to have some one come drive to my place to read the meter. In my case, I'm glad my meter was upgraded, because my meter was spinning even though the main was turned off. It was all most 40 yrs old at that point. My usage now is lower, go figure the rates are up now and don't really make a difference. I have the added feature to see usage sent back and daily usage but off grid most of the time. You can't fight the power company, there about like the gov. Unless you have a lot of money to blow, for me there's a lot of other areas for my concern. Being off grid gives me more options to control what my payment is based on.