[Avodah] If you have an electronic water meter, can you turn on yo ur faucet on Shabbos?

[Akiva Miller]

[Kindly avoid using RMB in a discussion where both R' Marty Bluke and
I are contributing. I corrected the attribution in the first line of
this email, but note to the reader: the "RMB"s here are RMBluke, not
me. -micha]

R' Marty Bluke wrote:
> When I come to turn on the water faucet on Shabbos, we can't
> deal with hypotheticals but the facts as they are right now
> and right now I want the meter to record my usage so I will
> know how much to pay.

R' Zev Sero responded:
> No you don't.  Right now you *still* want not to have to pay.
> If the meter were to stop running you'd be happy, not sad.

It seems to me that RZS is mixing two ideas, thus missing RMB's
point. RMB's point (it seems to me) is that we must separate the
requirement to pay from the operation of the meter.

I think we would all be much happier if we did not have to pay for our
water. But that's not the world most of us live in. In the here and now,
we DO have to pay for our water, whether we like it or not, and that
has NOTHING to do with the question we are discussing.

The question as I see it is this: Given that we DO have an obligation to
pay for it, do we want the meter to operate properly or not? RZS asserts
that "If the meter were to stop running you'd be happy, not sad", but
I disagree strongly. If my meter were to stop running, then my choices
would be:

1) steal the water outright
2) use the water, but discuss payment with the water company either
before or after actually using it.
3) stop using the water

Option #1 is clearly unacceptable. Option #2 may or may not be acceptable
halachically, but it is certainly an effort that I'd rather avoid. Option
#3 is clearly okay halachically, but extremely difficult practically.

Given that I don't like any of those three options, I am forced to say
that the continued functioning of the meter *IS* to my benefit. It is
the only way I can both use the water, and use it with a clear conscience.

Akiva Miller