exp'd linemen or w/ smart meters

The device on the lower right hand side of the top picture is apparently a smart meter router. It was installed a few days ago and our power went funny for awhile afterwards. Our area isn't due to have these installed for another year yet and it's the only I've seen in the area.

For those who have some experience working on utility lines. Our power lines are the set leading to the left on the top left.

1) Is the router hooked to our power lines. Best I can tell it does look like it feeds off of one of our 240s and our ground but it's hard to tell. More pics are possible if necessary but it's hard to get a good shot.

2) Is it typical to have some secondary device, like the router, on the utility pole feed off a line leading to a house like this.

3) Is it possible to monitor total power usage just from tapping one of the 240s and the ground, would actually assume it's a grounded neutral.

For those who have some knowledge of smart meters or meters in their area.

1) If you have smart meters in your area w/ the routers do your routers hook up like this also, that is running off the lines for a house.

2) The impossible to answer question. Could one of these F'ers be rigged to serve as a smart meter and router, since typically the smart meter is a device that replaces your old meter on your house. Which sends the signal to the router to be resent on to your power company.

hey i don't know where you are but i don't think that's a smart meter.

around here they installed those puppies and they go on the slot whre the old mechanical meter is on the side of you're house, not on the light post.

i don't know what that arm-lookng thing sticking out of the light pole is....

now that i look at it closer, it seems to have a solar panel looking thing on the top of it.... it also has an antenna looking thing out the bottom. doesn't look like a wire tap, it's too big, too conspicuous...

put the question on yahoo answers...

This is just a guess, but looks like what's going in around here in Cali. From the way I understand it the smart meters are supposed to be able to cut off the AC and such when your neighborhood is using a lot of power. I'm thinking that device is probably just their communications link with the digital meters Edison is installing right now. This is actually just the first phase as you'll need another device installed on the controlled appliances.

When Georgia Power put in digital meters several years ago they were doing all the meter reading via a wireless to a handheld unit. Considering the advances in technology and the burden it is reading meters here, they just might be doing away with meter readers altogether.

looks like a S.C.A.T.A. system remote CT to me...

used by power companies to tell wirelessly how much power is running through a line, it enables remote operators of the SCATA system to know either a) if the power is on or off, instantaneously, or b) get an idea of how much power is being transmitted through a line, for switching and power distribution reasons.
typically they are installed to monitor transformer output..... now the pics arent clear enough for me to tell you what its hooked up to though, but it looks like its connected to the load side (low voltage side) of the transformer. what this means to you is your about to get much more accurate elec bills.

ps- its also hard to tell from the pic what wires are going where coming out of the CT... it looks like there connected to the neutral of the load side of the transformer. if thats the case, its monitoring all the power coming through that transformer, you, your neighbors, and any street lights connected to it.

I'm pretty sure it's just pulling power for the unit. It doesn't look like anything more than a low power WAP to me.