Another SaskPower smart meter explodes in Saskatchewan

COLONSAY, Sask – A Saskatchewan man says his new SaskPower smart meter exploded early Saturday morning.

Brad McNairn told Global News the meter blew up around 1 a.m. at his Saskatoon home. There were no injuries and damage was limited to the meter and the surrounding area.

He is now calling on the Crown utility to issue a recall of the devices.

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That’s not about to happen, according to a press release from SaskPower.

“Like other electronic equipment, a small percentage of all digital and mechanical meters fail, so replacing our fleet of smart meters at this point is not warranted,” said SaskPower CEO Robert Watson.

Watson said installation of the smart meters remains on hold as SaskPower continues to investigate what is causing meters to fail.

“We’re working with independent parties and the meter manufacturer to identify the issue as quickly as possible,” said SaskPower CEO Robert Watson.

Around 105,000 of the smart meters have been installed so far in Saskatchewan and there is no word when installation will resume.

This is the seventh meter to have failed in the last two months.