Every breath you take: Water and power tell if Tokyoites are home

Utility companies to share real-time data, but privacy concerns mount

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If a home is using a lot of water but not much electricity, the utilities will inform the customer of a possible water leak. © Reuters

SUGURU KURIMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Tokyo's power and water utilities will share real-time grid data as part of efforts to improve services and better inform their response during natural disasters.

Making this possible is the adoption of smart meters, which eliminates the need to dispatch human readers to each home. Tens of millions of these devices are currently installed around Tokyo.

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