Homes not included in smart meters expansion: SaskPower

SaskPower is expanding its smart meter roll out following the success of its pilot project.

Smart meters were tested for the software and functionality and while adjustments were made, few problems were reported.

They were installed on the sites of two industrial customers, along with some SaskPower and SaskEnergy buildings.

In a blog on its website, SaskPower wrote, “We learned that some locations are more difficult to communicate with in our data network. We’ve made adjustments for those cases. In one case where a meter malfunctioned, it did so as expected. It simply stopped working. This is routine for a small percentage of any electronic device”.

SaskPower will now install smart meters to approximately 7,500 commercial and industrial customers around the province.

There is no timeline for when they will be installed for residential customers.

In the summer of 2014, SaskPower had to remove 105,000 meters after the devices caused fires.

SaskPower said it will see the results of the expanded pilot project before making any other decision going forward.

Smart meters are seen as a more accurate reader of electric usage rather than estimating.