If I do not pay my electricity bill, the authorities will do everything possible to remedy the situation. If I ‘steal’ electricity by hooking onto the national grid, the authorities, apart from taking me to court, will also send men with a pair of pliers to cut the cable from the grid to my residence.
So I cannot find a reasonable justification in giving meters to illegal constructions. I agree that where votes are concerned, one has to tread carefully, but faced with such an illegality, matters should be treated differently.