Nope. Entire countries are changing to digital meters. Welcome to a new age.
I’ve heard it randomly seems to double the bill before. I’m kinda scared for that as we’re already in a very expensive situation right now. Paying over half a buck per KWh.
Mine is also scheduled to be replaced in the coming years.
But, I bet they can still get in your apartment to check things. Lived in apartments in California and Florida. Try telling them they can’t come in with notice or that their maintenance request is not warranted. You can stay in the place depending on current eviction statutes and laws, but I doubt you’ll be able to do anything you want and not let them check smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and that stuff. Plus, I doubt many have counsel on retainer or are looking to hire an attorney over apartment manager issues unless they’re blatant violations of the area’s laws and they have concrete/clear proof/documentation. But, if you can just tell them they can’t come in and you can keep living there, there’s nothing to worry about.
The laws are different everywhere. I had 6 maintenance guys 5’ from my tent and I didn’t blink an eye.
Also had the fire alarm checkers come in while I’m away. No big deal.
Seriously though, there are professional scumbag tenants who do this on purpose and it takes a year to get to landlord/tenant tribunal and then court and even if the landlord wins the judgement good luck collecting. Then they can try again, get another judgement and good luck collecting. Most landlords cut their losses and it’s the cost of doing business.
But I’m quasi legal and even if I get busted for doing illegal things it’s just a ticket so it’s really not a big deal.
But I’ve still got paranoid habits and ptsd from when it was totally illegal and it’s hard to shake so I get it.
When the indoor growing craze took off 20 years ago, there were countless busts in the news. Especially in places like California and Canada. In every article I read about the evidence used to execute those search warrants, power usage was always secondary. There was usually a tip or some other form of evidence that was used to get a warrant to obtain your power usage records. Then once the records were obtained, they would compare them against neighboring homes that were roughly the same size. The information was just additional evidence used to convince a judge to sign a search warrant for the home, vehicles, etc.
Then the growers decided to steal power. Now the electric company is going to get involved. They can and will find you with or without a smart meter. There are two primary types of power loads in your home, inductive and resistive and they both have a distinct signature. There are also other devices like digital ballasts that work with high switching frequencies and induce noise on power and data lines like cable or DSL. The noise generated from these devices can cause issues with nearby homes and their incoming power if they’re close enough. If the noise is severe enough, the power company may want to investigate the cause of it. LED’s use switching drivers, but they are much more efficient than digital ballasts and generate a fraction of the noise.
Power usage should be last on the list of your concerns, if on the list at all
I think the biggest question would likely be even if they could tell from the power usage that you were running a grow light, would that be enough on its own to warrant probably cause to come in the apartment. On its own probably not. Many people legitimately grow none cannabis plants indoors such as peppers veggies exotic plants etc. In an apartment scenario they could ask the owner to search without a warrant but as others have mentioned the owner can just come in with 24 hours notice anyway for a maintenance check without a warrant in the first place. So having said all that I don’t think a smart meter adds anymore risk to the situation then is already present when growing in someone else property.
What region do you live in that you pay 50+ cents/kwh?
Ours is 7 cents. It used to be 12 cents but they built a ton of windmills outside of town.
Smart devices with wifi can talk to smart meters so that should be considered.
I also heard the meters can comunicate with eachother, like if one can not reach out it will have the next door meter do it fot it.
So with a proper investigation they can see exactly when you run your smart dishwasher, when your TV is on, when you wash clothes,they even can tell the make and model of each appliance if they want to, they can know everything going on inside your house.
What about a smart TV with a microphone, could it be listening?
Sounds crazy right…but it is already talking to your phone.
I have proven this myself. 
I tried to tell folks this was happening 15 years ago…
They just called me chicken little and said it was some consiracy theory.
Now they can see for themselves it is all very true.
But you really should be safe unless you are already under investigation.
If they want to know they will surely find out.
Also HID ballasts and wires give off RF signal that fucks with cable TV.
At one time I was causing all kinds of interference on my neighbors cable line.
How do I know?
The cable guy told me so.
I think he put a filter in to block the RF from back feeding the line.
This same RF will mess with HAM radios too.
I was told with the right equipment you can locate every grow house on the block.
Don’t believe me…ask a HAM radio guy what he thinks.
Don’t believe still…just ask snowden. 
smart meters that record what time of night you turn out the lights.
i don’t know how complicated the legal situation is for you, but i simply refused the installation at the time. i was also supposed to have a smart meter installed in my house.
at the time, the parts were banned in japan because of the high radiation exposure. when i asked what the difference was between me and a japanese person, i naturally didn’t get an answer.
since then, no one has been in touch.
Since you live in an apartment complex and always pay your bill on time, you don’t have to worry. It only becomes conspicuous when a lot is consumed and nothing is paid.
I used to work for an electricity provider and they don’t give a shit, the main thing is that the money rolls in.
The power company would be cutting its own throat if they turned folks in, they are not gonna do that, but they would comply with an ongoing investigation.
If I remember correctly 5K draw and above is where the red flag starts, not sure I am right but I probably am.
Here in Germany it doesn’t matter, when you state a reason. My friend hosts servers and is a bitcoin miner, he’s good to got lol another one has a huge saltwater fishtank…et
So would simply adjusting the light schedule by 5 minutes here and there be a simple work around and would that small adjustment interfere with a 12/12 blooming schedule?
I really doubt that would work.
I would think it would mess with the plants.
I would not worry too much as others have said, it is easier to explain today with crypto ect.