My meager understanding of smart meters (in the USA)was the power usage data was
periodically being sent to the power co.
To see your pwr use in semi-real-time, you have to log on to the power co website.
It sounds like your smart meter is really equipped with tons-o-radios..
I've looked into trying to capture the radio signal of my meter, and folks say
the signal is very hard to hear (moving frequency) and it's encrypted!
It's cool that you can read out your meter on your PC without spending
a lot of money on special hardware.
It seems like there has been some bugs in your system up there..
I guess you will have to track your own usage, if you plan to fight extra
high charges for power you didn't use..
But, hanging an optical (or other) sensor on a Smart Meter
that might be pretty dumb,
may not be the best way to get accurate data..
The data might already be corrupt, before it's sent to BC Hydro..?.
A stand-alone unit might be better to find out if your Smart meter starts going nuts.
I used this one, (Which broke on me)!
Before going to the TED.
(These were used to measure my HVAC costs).