Dive Brief:
- The government of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has directed utility SaskPower to remove 105,000 installed Sensus smart meters following several unexplained fires.
- SaskPower announced it was investigating a few cases of meter failure in July and had suspended its smart meter roll-out until the investigation was complete.
- No one was injured in the meter fires, which only damaged the outside of buildings. Eight such cases have been reported thus far.
Dive Insight:
The controversy surrounding Sensus smart meters continues to grow as SaskPower is merely the latest utility to experience concerns over fires. Oregon utility Portland General Electric last week said it was replacing 70,000 Sensus meters installed in its territory after three fires. And in 2012, Pennsylvania utility PECO replaced Sensus meters in its territory for the same reason.
SaskPower said the cost of the removal could total $15 million, which comes on top of the $37 million it has already sunk into the smart meter roll-out.
"We have no confirmation that the meter is the source [of the fire problems]," said a statement issued by Sensus. "We are working with SaskPower to understand what specific events led to those issues and to determine the best course of action. The investigation is still underway."
Sensus maintains it has millions of meters operating reliably and safely in North America. "Given that there are more than 40 million meters deployed to date in North America, the failure rates are very low," said Sensus spokeswoman Linda Palmer.
