167 hydro meters recalled in Greater Sudbury
Utility will replace meters in affected buildings free of charge
The province’s Electrical Safety Authority is directing local hydro utilities to replace a certain model of a smart meter “as a preventative step” after reviewing reports of problematic meters in Saskatchewan, and 167 are being replaced in Sudbury.
Greater Sudbury Hydro said the authority has concluded that a specific model of the Sensus meter is susceptible to a specific type of failure.
Last summer, the Saskatchewan government ordered SaskPower to remove more than 100,000 newer model meters that had already been installed after reports of nine fires related to the equipment.
An investigation in Saskatchewan found that rain water and contaminates getting into the meters appeared to contribute to them failing.
In Ontario, the Electrical Safety Authority said no local utilities are using the model installed in Saskatchewan.
The vice-president of distribution with Greater Sudbury Hydro said the recalled meters in Sudbury will be replaced as quickly as possible.
“We’ve already quarantined the existing stock and we’ve examined how many replacement meters we have available,” Brian McMillan said.
“We’ll probably start changing our meters pretty much immediately, if not tomorrow, next week.”
Affected customers in Sudbury will be contacted directly by Greater Sudbury Hydro.
The utility said all meters will be replaced before March 31.
With files from The Canadian Press