167 hydro meters recalled in Greater Sudbury

The provinces 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.

Weve already quarantined the existing stock and weve examined how many replacement meters we have available, Brian McMillan said.

Well 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.