My community started installing smart water meters and it created a few issues. People were getting insanely high bills (as in 800-1000x higher than normal). This was found to be due to incorrectly identifying the pipe sizes for the cost calculation. I also have heard of a nightmare issue from a person who lived in home converted into individual units, sort of a mini complex. The wiring was backwards so they were paying for their neighbor’s electricity use, and the neighbor paying for their use. This went on for years and the person said they had been doing everything to conserve but their bills were very high. The electric company just kept telling them to conserve better and had someone check the wiring. Finally they were away and had turned off everything, but still got a big bill. Finally the electricity company saw the mix up and one unit owns back payment for many years of high bills the other unit has many years of credit.
The immediate things that come to me are wanting to know whether or not you will be able to see the meter reading on your own to be able to document your use in order to compare with the utility. I can read my water meter and determine how much I am using on a daily basis. This allows me to check for leaks (which I have already had) and compare my meter to the readings on my bill. Twice I have been overcharged because my old dial numbers were misread. A friend has a smart water meter and is unable to see the actual numerical amount. The smart readers have been presented as a means of more easily and accurately collecting meter readings, which can be the case, but I want to be able to verify and would ask about that first.
I would ask what other data is being collected and what is happening to that data. Are they going to be breaking down your water and electricity use by hour and then sell that on to data brokers to determine which times of day are going to be particularly effective for targeting you with ads or to help train AI systems?
Are they going to be storing this data? For how long? Is the data completely under their control, or have they outsourced storage to another entity who might misuse it? What guarantees are in place that they other entity is not going to use that data (even if they say they won’t)? What verification is in place that the data that is to be wiped actually is?
You might look We See It All by Jon Fasman for more ideas relevant to your situation. The book is a bit older but the overall information is still relevant though the details may have changed. It includes a chapter about the kinds of questions to ask and how to get involved when your community begins using surveillance tech.