Smart meters in western Canada different those than in Ontario

TheBarrieExaminer.com
Aug. 14, 2014
Cheryl Browne

Fears that newly installed smart meters can catch fire have largely been doused by fire officials across the province.

Although the same Sensus business supplies both Ontario and Saskatchewan with the smart hydro meters, it's only in the prairie province where seven have been involved in house fires.

“They're different models,” said Eric Fagen, vice-president of corporate communications with PowerStream, the hydro utility for Barrie and other local municipalities.

Fagen points out the western model has several key differences from the units that have been installed in 345,000 homes in Ontario since 2007, one being a remote disconnect that allows the utility company to shut off the unit if the customer doesn't pay their hydro bill.

“I'm not saying that part is causing the fires, it's just one of the differences between the two units,” he said.

Of the 175,000 units across Saskatchewan, one of the seven meter fires was attributed to an issue with the base of the meter attached to the home, three were caused by utility over-voltage, two were caused by water intrusion through the base of the meter and one is still under investigation.

In Ontario, there have been 22 fires between 2011 and 2013 where hydro meters were involved, said Carol Gravelle of the Office of the Fire Marshal in Ontario.

Gravelle said 10 meter fires have been attributed to internal faults in meters, while 12 where attributed to high resistance heating.

“It's not known how many of those 22 are smart meters,” Gravelle said. “We didn't investigate these, we're aware of the incidents because we were informed by local fire departments.”

But Gravelle said based on their investigations, they don't believe the smart meters are a threat to public safety.

There has been one fire in a meter in Barrie, said Deb Grant of Barrie Fire & Emergency Services.

However, Grant noted that when they investigated the source of the fire, they determined it started under the cement floor of the garage in an older home and travelled to the meter.

“So technically, it wasn't really a meter fire,” she said.

But that fire was also investigated by the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). It has joined both PowerStream and Innisfil Hydro by releasing statements this week indicating it believes the smart meters are safe.

“The Electrical Safety Authority has had no reason to believe there are safety issues with smart meters in Ontario. There have been a number of meter fire incidents here which the fire marshal reviewed and concluded that there wasn't a public safety concern.”

However, the ESA also notes it is reviewing the meter incidents in Saskatchewan to determine if there could be any concerns with the Ontario units.