Digital Event Horizon
A power utility in California has been accused of engaging in a mass surveillance scheme by reporting suspected cannabis growers to law enforcement, with potentially devastating consequences for innocent individuals whose electricity usage is mistakenly flagged as suspicious.
SMUD, like most electric utilities, relies on smart meters to wirelessly transmit data about customer's power consumption, which can be used to identify types of appliances. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) characterizes this practice as a mass surveillance scheme that indiscriminately targets nearly all in the Sacramento area. SMUD analysts collaborate with law enforcement to identify potential cannabis growers, providing lists and tips based on smart meter data. The Sacramento Police Department requests this data quarterly, and SMUD analysts scrutinize the data to speculate about lighting usage for grows. The EFF says that from 2020 to 2022, nearly $100 million was levied on property owners in the Sacramento area, with most being of Asian descent. The threshold for suspicion has been lowered over time, and law enforcement now seeks data based on as little as 2,800 kWh per month. The EFF is seeking a court order barring warrantless disclosures, arguing that SMUD's practice violates privacy protections guaranteed by the federal and California governments.
SMUD, like most electric utilities, relies on smart meters that wirelessly transmit data about each customer’s power consumption. These reports measure usage in 15-minute intervals that can give clues about the types of appliances drawing power inside each home. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) characterizes the practice as a mass surveillance scheme that indiscriminately targets nearly all in the Sacramento area, even when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing.
The EFF attorneys wrote that SMUD uses sophisticated software to analyze smart meter data. The software’s initial purpose was to help SMUD find power theft. But for the last decade, SMUD analysts have actively collaborated with law enforcement—and especially the Sacramento Police Department—by providing lists, opinions, and tips in a hunt for SMUD customers who might be growing cannabis. Specifically, law enforcement sends requests for, and SMUD discloses, lists of all customers in a given zip code that use above a minimum threshold of electricity. Often, these requests span the zip codes for an entire city. One such list included more than 10,000 customers.
SMUD analysts then scrutinize the smart meter interval data, going “account by account” in a “painstaking” process, and opine if a customer is a “pattern” user, or speculate about the number of lights a customer might be using to grow cannabis. The Sacramento Police Department requests this data quarterly.
Further raising concerns, in at least two cases, SMUD analysts described flagged customers with the description of “4k [kWh], Asian,” and “multiple Asians have reported there.” The EFF said that from 2020 to 2022, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department levied penalties of nearly $100 million on owners of properties where cannabis had been found. About 86 percent of those property owners were of Asian descent, the EFF said.
Also contributing to the scope of the dragnet, law enforcement has, over time, lowered the suspicion threshold. In 2014, the consumption was 7,000 kWh per month. In 2023, the threshold was lowered to 2,800 kWh.
Representatives of SMUD and the sheriff’s department didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
A motion filed by the EFF in Sacramento Superior Court last week revealed that Nguyen and Decker are only two of more than 33,000 Sacramento-area people who have been flagged to the Sheriff’s department by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The EFF said the utility unilaterally analyzes customers’ electricity usage in “painstakingly” detailed increments of every 15 minutes. When analysts identify patterns they deem likely signs of illegal grows, they notify Sheriff’s investigators.
The EFF, citing investigator and SMUD records, said the practice violates privacy protections guaranteed by the federal and California governments and is seeking a court order barring the warrantless disclosures.
“SMUD’s disclosures invade the privacy of customers’ homes,” EFF attorneys wrote in a court document in support of last week’s motion. “The whole exercise is the digital equivalent of a door-to-door search of an entire city. The home lies at the ‘core’ of constitutional privacy protection.”
Contrary to SMUD and sheriff’s investigator claims that the likely illegal grows are accurate, the EFF cited multiple examples where they have been wrong. In Decker’s case, for instance, SMUD analysts allegedly told investigators his electricity usage indicated that “4 to 5 grow lights are being used [at his home] from 7pm to 7am.” In actuality, the EFF said, someone in the home was mining cryptocurrency.
Nguyen’s electricity consumption was the result of a spinal injury that requires him to use an electric wheelchair and special HVAC equipment to maintain his body temperature.
The EFF says the "mass surveillance scheme" violates constitutional protections. The organization is seeking a court order barring the warrantless disclosures.
Related Information:
https://www.digitaleventhorizon.com/articles/A-Power-Utilitys-Mass-Surveillance-Scheme-How-SMUDs-Smart-Meter-Data-is-Fueling-Cannabis-Grow-Related-Policing-in-Sacramento-deh.shtml
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/eff-moves-to-stop-power-utility-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops/
Published: Tue Jul 22 18:58:56 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
