REGINA – The minister at the helm of Saskatchewan’s failed smart meter program insists he is being honest about what he knew of safety concerns dating back more than two years.
Critics argue that Bill Boyd, the minister responsible for SaskPower, was aware the meter being tested in Hanley, Sask., in 2012 was the same model as one that overheated 14 times in Philadelphia.
“(Boyd) knew his test run in Hanley put those people at risk, using Hanley as guinea pigs,” said NDP deputy leader Trent Wotherspoon.
An investigation showed it took one month for SaskPower to actually send employees to Hanley to replace the meters – a process that took only two days.
A spokeswoman for Philadelphia Electric Co. told The Canadian Press the company reached out to a number of utilities, including SaskPower, to alert them of overheating incidents.
The government confirmed SaskPower officials took a trip to the U.S. in 2012 to discuss possible smart meter safety issues.
Boyd said earlier this week he hadn’t heard of safety issues that far back. He admits now that he did know about a previous smart meter with problems, but said he was advised that a newer Sensus meter corrected the issue.
“Maybe the right choice of words weren’t used at that time, but I’m saying it now,” Boyd said. “The point is, when officials bring information to you, the questions that would be asked of them would be, ‘Have the problems been addressed?’ (The answer was) yes, the have. ‘Okay, let’s move on.’ ”
Boyd said, in hindsight, the advice was wrong because the newer model still caused eight fires in Saskatchewan.
With files from The Canadian Press
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