chances are what they put on the gas meter is a radio so that it can be read remotely.

Do you have a cell phone? How do you protect the dog from the radiation it puts out?

Do you have WiFi in your house? How do you protect yourself from the radio waves it produces?

Nope, don't have WiFi... the dog and child don't have cell phones, and as for the rest of us, all cell phones are turned off by 9:00 pm.

Yes, what they put on the gas meter can be read remotely, but I'd appreciate any good rationale for me to use other than "Because I don't WANT to!" or "Because it isn't broken!" relative to them changing out a perfectly good gas meter.

Thanks!

You may find that, at some point, they charge more for the service of reading them manually.

The intensity of the radio signal drops off as the square of the distance. If the meter is 30 inches away from your brain, rather than only 2 inches for a cell phone, the signal is 225 times weaker.

It is their equipment, they are allowed to do as they wish.

The utilities company does NOT have to read anything manually because it already has a smart meter "attached" to it. They want to change out the meter itself.

While I understand it is their equipment, changing out something that is still working, and working well without any problems, begs the question. Yes, it's their equipment, but really, another aspect is that it's on my property and I can deny access that way.

just want to not invite trouble by changing out something that works for something that is "newer" i.e. read: functional obsolescence.

Good point.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but you can't come up with a better reason because ... there is no better reason.

And sometimes it's better to replace something before it breaks. Doing it at their convenience instead of as an emergency.
I'm sure you replace the brakes on your car before they no longer work. ;)