Re: I have one
Electrician Steps Up When CenterPoint Won’t
Houston Texas News report on another situation where a new wireless utility meter has exploded. According to the article, “The power company not only refuses to fix the meter case that left Vallain’s [A Houston Grandmother] family without power, but now representatives say the problem never happened. “They said it was never an explosion, and my granddaughter and I saw it, and he [the Centerpoint technician] jumped back himself,” Vallain said. ”
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Appling Family Blames House Fire On Georgia Power Meter- News Video
According to this news article a Georgia family is displaced by a house fire, the fire department says it was an electrical accident, and the family blames the new Smart Meters installed two weeks ago.
” The Burns family was watching TV when the fire started around 10:00 a.m. Monday morning. Family members say sparks started flying from the TV and power box. Around the same time, down the street, another homeowner’s TV reportedly started sparking and smoking. A daughter says their electrical problems started after Georgia Power installed new meters. Angela Dent, Appling, GA: “That’s when we noticed the changes. It also happened at my brother’s house…his TV’s have been acting strange…popping and surging in and out…her lights have been dimming also.”
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PG&E recently installed ‘smart’ meters in my neighborhood. They do not tell you when they will come, but warn you to shut off things like computers that might be damaged when power is restored. When I arrived home, I only had power in my kitchen. The PGE repairman said that installation of smart meters was frying many meter receiver boxes. He was not qualified to fix it, and the power remained off for another 24 hours while PGE scheduled a qualified repairman to come out. Apparently this result is common in older subdivisions (mine was built around 1975) when the smart meters were installed. The older boxes, due to wear and age, burned out when PGE put in the new meters. The disturbing thing is that PGE will NOT replace the burned out boxes -they send out a guy with a box of spare parts, who cobbles together a sort of replica of the old box. I wonder how many home fires will result from PGE’s installation of the no-so-Smart meters. (CPUC Complaint, 11/2009, Concord CA)
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The following letter and photo were sent to the EMF Safety Network from a California fire department captain (Ross) who saved his home from a potential Smart Meter fire in 2009. PG&E has admitted that Smart Meters have interfered with GFI’s and AFCI’s, but they have not admitted to any connection with a Smart Meter fire. Smart Meter Arcing Hazard
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After a Smart Meter was installed in this Florida woman’s home she said the meter “caught fire and fried my beautiful new kitchen” – over $31,000 in damages to many of her home appliances. The Florida power company refuses to take the blame. See this video: Help Me Howard, FPL Smartmeter
The following reader comments were posted on the above online story:
(Boater39) “In our apartment complex, we had a fire last week at our sprinkler pump. Afterwards, I went to investigate and it was the electric meter that burned up. Took out decent-sized FP&L feeder in the process. I have an electrical background, and from my professional experience, whatever caused the meter to burn up was a dead short carrying a very large amount of current. Based on the damage, the problem was AT THE METER–not at the customer equipment attached to the meter. (like I said, I have professional experience). At the time I found it strange, until I saw this report on TV…. I will be sending some pictures to Patrick today–they can use them on whatever followup they want. It appears that we have a major design flaw with these new meters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
(Jenny White) “After FPL installed the new meter at my dad’s house all his wires were burned as well and the house almost caught on fire. The problem is those new meter.”
(April) “I too had my smartmeter burn out and had a hell of a time getting FPL to fix everything. Their meter burned the wiring in my home behind the box that they said was up to me to get fixed on my own and that they could only repair the meter and wires from the pole to the box. I had 2 electricians come out and they said it was an FPL problem. Ended up there is an outside company that installs the meters for FPL and they ended up paying for my problem after FPL denied my claim for them to pay for the damages.”
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Fire Tears Through Cutlet Bay Home A family in Florida suspects a Smart Meter was the cause of their house fire. According to the article, ” Fire investigators have not released the cause of the blaze. A relative told Local 10 the family believes a recently installed Smart Meter may have started the fire. Florida Power and Light says the company will investigate the allegation…”
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In Houston Texas, “Local 2 investigates Smart Meter fires” reports they looked into homeowners complaints of Smart Meter fires and found some people are left with no electricity and major damage to their homes, including burnt out appliances after a Smart Meter has been installed by the utility. See Video.
“Charles Phillips saw smoke coming from the transformer in his backyard one morning last November. When he went out to inspect the damage, he said he saw a CenterPoint Energy contractor at his meter box with a fire extinguisher. He told me it had caught on fire, Phillips said.”
“Inside Phillip’s home, two TVs were fried, his air conditioner and garage door opener stopped working, and all of the wires and cables hooked up to his electronics were melted from the jolt his electronics took when a fire sparked after the installer removed his old meter. Phillips was left with a total of about $2,500 in damages.”
According to the article, Centerpoint, the utility for Houston Texas, has admitted the connection between fire risk and Smart Meters, stating there has been less than 100 problems. “CenterPoint’s LeBlanc said the problem is mostly in older homes where wiring is not up to code or something has caused a strain on the wires running into the meter box.”
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Powercor, a utility company in Australia recognizes the safety risk from Smart Meters, stating, “A defect notice is issued when a wiring safety issue is identified. The defect may be identified before or during the smart meter installation or during the testing that we must do before reconnecting the electricity supply. If you are given a defect notice, you will need a registered electrical contractor to rectify the defect and issue a Certificate of Electrical Safety.”
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Texas Consumer Complaint: Three months ago, Centerpoint installed a smart meter at my home. Since then, I have been experiencing very frequest power outages in different parts of my home. I cannot even turn on my air condition since the power flow is not reliable. I am 64 years old and retired, living on a fixed income. I have called centerpoint numerous times and they have not admitted responsibility and tell me that I am responsible to fix the this issue which is a fire hazard as well. I have consulted with two different experienced electricians and they have told me that when a centerpoint technician installed the smart meter, the 4 prong male connection that plugs into the smart meter was not inserted correctly and he must of forced it in which caused one of the prongs to go bad and burn out. So I now know what is causing the so frequent power outages, but Centerpoint Reps will not take responsibilty for the problem that they created. I have been living in my home for 24 years and never have had this occur. This is not a coincidence, How come this problem surfaced once the new smart meter was installed? We all know the truth, I will keep calling centerpoint and I am in the process of filing a formal complaint with texas state regulators.
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Oncor Changing Smart Meter Installation After Fires “The Chief Executive Officer of Oncor says the company has a new procedure for installation of smart meters after two house fires in Arlington last week. Robert Shapard says old wiring in two homes could not support the new smart meters. The company now cuts power to the house while the meters are being installed…then as the change is made…electricians check the wiring to make sure there aren’t any problems.”
Reader comment posted on the above story by (Renee Callahan) “My mother had the “new smart meter” installed about a month ago. Since then she has had trouble with the lights blinking on and off. So on this past Friday (sept 17) she called TXU about the problem.They sent Oncor out late that evening while she was gone. Imagine the suprise she had when she returned home late with groceries and NO POWER! A note was on her front door saying….lugs in meter base need to be replaced fire hazard call back when repairs are made we will restore serv[ice]. After several calls to TXU ,ONCOR(representatives were very rude)she was told that she needed to find an electrician to fix problem at her expense. My mother is disabled and elderly and my sister who also lives with her is disabled. Because this was after hours more fees were charged..a total of$1483.66 to fix this problem that was caused by ONCOR because they decided to put in “smart meter”If there was a problem with lugs,was this not noticed when they were installing “smart meter” or simply that problem didn’t exist until installation of “smart meter”? So here it is 1:35 Monday afternoon and still no power. We are waiting for inspection then we can notify Oncor to have power restored. This is so wrong. These older homes are not equipped to handle these “smart meters”. So why put them in homes that are older and most likely are senior citizens living there and they are on fixed incomes. Something is so wrong with this picture. …”
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5/31/2011 Some blame ‘smart’ meter for Portland restaurant fire
“PORTLAND, Maine— A small fire on May 25 at El Rayo, a York Street Mexican restaurant, was blamed on an electrical problem. But some people are saying there’s more to the fire than a simple wiring issue. Central Maine Power Co.’s vendor had installed a “smart” electrical meter on the building in January. The fire broke out in the electrical box where the meter connects to the building. “Sorry for being closed at lunch. CMP’s allegedly smart meter caught fire and shut us down all day,” the restaurant posted May 25 on Facebook.”
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Electrical fire causes power outage at Coddingtown JC Penney store
JC Penney closes after another electrical panel explodes in Santa Rosa Coddingtown mall, the third reported electrical panel fire in Santa Rosa within a few weeks. Although the newspaper article does not report it, the manager of the store confirmed these were smart meters involved in the explosion and fire.
“The JC Penney store at Santa Rosa’s Coddingtown shopping center remained closed on Thursday afternoon because of an early morning electrical explosion and fire that cut off power to the store, fire officials said… An electrical panel in a utility room had exploded and begun burning, sending smoke into the first and second floors of the building, fire officials said.”
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3 PG&E Smart Meters Explode at Santa Rosa Mall
April 7, 2011 According to the incident report from the Santa Rosa Fire Department on April 7, firefighters found the electrical room at the Santa Rosa Mall “charged with smoke” and “upon investigation found 3 PG&E meters that had blown off the electrical panel causing damage to the interior wiring of the electrical panel. A fire was still smoldering..”
The cause of the fire is listed as equipment failure and arcing coming from the switchgear area, and transformer vault.
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El Cerrito Smart Meter Catches Fire El Cerrito CA Fire Dept Report
Smart Meter was reported to catch fire and was still sparking when the fire crew arrived.
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Commentary by electrical contractor Lance Houston
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Smart Meter Explodes in Oregon, comment from Stop Smart Meters.org
“I didn’t know that I had a smart meter until it blew up on 08/12/2010! I am an Oregon PG&E customer, now victim. I want to know if anyone else has seen a smart meter blow up. It threw flames out and black smoke was in the air for hours. I called PG&E, but they said it wasn’t possible for a meter to explode. I wrote letters, called many times, but they said that they were too busy to come look at meter. For five months it sat there black and the house black also from the blast. I had to be taken to the Dr. because the blast knocked me down onto the cement. My doctor has referred me to a specialist. I have never had health problems. Now I have severe pain running through the nerves of the right side of my body. I can only walk with crutches now and only sleep two to four hours per night. The bills continue to go higher each month, and my bill says “
estimated usage.” Anon, Oregon
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“VICTORIA’S [Australia] energy regulator has conceded smart meter contractors might lack required skills and is reviewing the qualifications of workers rolling out the $2 billion scheme.
The Sunday Age [newspaper] can also reveal that, in the course of their work, smart meter installers have identified dangerous and possibly life-threatening electrical hazards in 3500 Victorian homes. Smart Meter Shock: electrical hazards found in 3500 homes
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“When PG&E installed their SmartMeters on my duplex in Sunnyvale they almost burned the place down. All the power plugs had burned insulation and wires where the wires connected to the plug receptacle in one of the units. PG&E’s SmartMeters are a safety hazard and any good judge would stop PG&E before more people are hurt and more property is damaged.” Michael E. Boyd –
President, CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc.
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On November 8th, 2010 Anonymous (not verified) says: “The smart meter that was installed two months ago sparked and made exploding noises. I am still getting a bill. However, after that last boom with fire sparks, I am sure it isn’t running. I can’t see inside the meter because the front of it is black now! I am going to let tit sit there for a while and see if the bill continues to rise drastically. I haven’t seen anymore sparks since the last big one. I am assuming my rising PG&E bill is created by the “energy fairy” at PG&E!
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State of Maine Utility CMP Supervisor admits finding Smart Meter fire hazards Media report
Russ Farwell, a CMP unit supervisor, said the technicians are actually discovering more possible fire hazards than the company anticipated, and informing customers of dangers they otherwise would not have known existed. He said, so far, they have discovered 70 to 80 electrical issues in the Portland area. “I didn’t think they’
d find that many,” he said.
“Farwell said recently a customer’s television was destroyed during a meter replacement because the man allegedly did not come to the door when a technician knocked and then left the television on during the meter change.
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Media Report: Danville (Virginia) Woman says meter is a fire hazard
” Kari Pyrtle says the meter, provided by the city, actually exploded and that it could have set her whole house on fire. The incident happened back on October 8, 2010.
“We were getting up, getting ready for school and for work,” said Kari Pyrtle, a Danville resident. “All of the sudden the lights started flickering on and off and we hit the breaker box. Go outside and we could smell electrical burning. And we looked and our whole smart meter was turning black.”
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Fires Spark During Smart Meter Installations
ARLINGTON – Smart meter installations are being blamed for two house fires in Arlington this week.The problem isn’t the meters themselves, but instead what’s happening to electrical wiring.
The first fire happened Monday on Brook Hill Lane and the second happened Tuesday on Grants Parkway. Arlington fire investigator Morkita Anthony found that when the old meters were pulled out, the main electric feeds to the houses were accidentally pulled as well. “
What it’s doing is making contact somehow with the electric box or the wiring inside and causing a short, which is causing a fire,” Anthony said.
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Smart meter fire reported in Canada: “ The smart meter on the side of my house caught fire and per the Fire Inspector it was the cause of the fire. Hydro came and took the meter saying it was there property. Who is at fault and if there property burnt my house why should I have to pay my deductible and risk my insurance to go up? Will my insurance go after the Hydro company? Should I get a good Lawyer? ”
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Media Report: Vacuum Shop Fire Raises Smart Meter Questions
video: Man says smart meter caught fire and shut down his business
“There may have been warning signs that the electrical system wasn’t working properly before the 6:30 a.m. fire. Rawles and a friend of his, offshore crane operator Ty Allen, both said the remote meter appeared to have stopped working months before the fire. Rawles said calls to the utility went ignored.
Allen also described unusual marks on the meter before it caught fire.
“It looked like it’d been hot or burned inside the meter,” he said.”
“An incident report filed by the Bakersfield Fire Department the day of the fire appears to blame the meter. It said department personnel arrived at the scene and found “a problem with the electric service meter.”
“The meter had appeared to failed and shorted out causing arcing,” according to a copy of the report.”
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Berkeley Fire Department Report: Smart Meter Fire
It states, “Investigation revealed the newly installed PG&E Smart Meter in the kitchen was hot to touch and
smoking, with a orange glow inside the meter housing”
The issue was turned over to PG&E.
The following scan of the Berkeley fire department report is a large file and may take a long time to load:
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The Utility Reform Network: Are Smart Meters a Better Way to do Business?
“They have shorted out appliances, they’ve caught fire, they interfere with garage door openers or security systems.” said Mark Toney of the Utility Reform Network.
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Modesto Irrigation District Finally Comes Clean About Smart Meters | THE VOICE OF MODESTO
Meters caused GFI problems-MID spent over $138,000.00 in overtime repairs to homes where the meters caused the GFI circuit breaker to trip causing service disruption for the homeowner. Modesto’s Head Electrical Inspector said while the people changing home wiring weren’t electricians, that it was the same as having a handyman in your home redoing the wiring so no inspection was needed, and that the homeowner assumed responsibility for the repairs. MID made the claim they weren’t aware of any homeowners paying for their own repairs, but if the homeowner didn’t know MID was at fault, they wouldn’
t have contacted them.
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From New Zealand: Fire Prone Meter Boxes causing Concern
“Front line firefighters are concerned about the number of household power meter boxes that are bursting into flames.
There have been 67 callouts in Christchurch to electrical malfunctions so far this year, and new smart meters have been involved in three in the last five days. Graham Hobbs considers himself lucky. He was woken at 4:30am to find his smart meter on fire. ”I lifted this up it was still glowing and smoking, and slammed it shut to try and seal it off.” The following night Kelvin Dixon, who lives nearby, suffered a similar fate. ”I pulled into my drive way and found my meter box on fire great amounts of smoke.” Mr Dixon is a registered electrician and says the contactor that sits beneath the smart meter caught fire and melted.”
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PG&E Report: “During the second quarter of 2009, PG&E discovered a limited number of cases of SmartMeter™ radio interference with customer electronics, including ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) and arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI). In response, PG&E implemented a policy to defer meter installations at customer premises that PG&E is aware could potentially be affected by radio frequency interference. PG&E plans to install an adjustable voltage meter to prevent potential interference at these recorded locations. These adjustable meters are currently in final acceptance testing at PG&E. Upon final acceptance and approval, a schedule will be developed to deploy these meters at the premises where installation was deferred.” Pages 6-7 Advanced Metering Infrastructure; January 2010 Semi-Annual Assessment Report and SmartMeter™
Program Quarterly Report (Updated), Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
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Online reader comment: “As a newspaper editor in little ole Cleburne County, Alabama we come out tomorrow with a story on a house which may have burned down because of a smart meter, another incident of a meter apparently getting so hot it almost burned along with circuit panel inside the home and people being told either by installer or power co that if they did not replace all the wiring in their home that the meter would indeed cause a fire!!!! I am told by a commercial builder that some meters may be faulty and allow 300-440 volts in on a home’s 220 and 110 lines. We’re seeing problems out here of burn outs in appliances, meltdowns of hair dryers, kitchen appliance , and a number of high-end electronics getting zapped. Goodbye Bose radio, goodbye wide, wide screen tv and see if the utility cos are going to pay for those items – don’t think so!”
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Media report on a Smart Meter fire in Bakersfield. “Smart Meter Blows Up At Business”
“On Wednesday, a PG&E technician was called out to replace the meter after employees found the device burned up and lying on the ground. …”Basically it was an explosion. I saw the meter on the ground and the face plate was blew off and the whole meter was blackened. Even the breaker box that housed the meter was blackened by what seemed to be an electrical short,” said Vernon Nelson, an employee. Another employee wondered how safe the meters are in general, especially for residential families? ABC 23 contacted PG&E who said they are not aware of any smart meters catching fire or blowing up. However the PG&E technician told the employee as he was replacing the meter, that he had replaced at least 15 meters around town due to the same problem they had, said an employee.”
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Wireless Smart Meters and Potential for Electrical Fires
Typical gauge electrical wiring that provides electricity to buildings (60 Hz power) is not constructed or intended to carry high frequency harmonics that are increasingly present on normal electrical wiring. The exponential increase in use of appliances, variable speed motors, office and computer equipment and wireless technologies has greatly increased these harmonics in community electrical grids and the buildings they serve with electricity. Harmonics are higher frequencies than 60 Hz that carry more energy, and ride along on the electrical wiring in bursts. Radio frequency (RF) is an unintentional by-product on this electrical wiring.
It may be contributing to electrical fires where there is a weak spot (older wiring, undersized neutrals for the electrical load, poor grounding, use of aluminum conductors, etc.). The use of smart meters will place an entirely new and significantly increased burden on existing electrical wiring because of the very short, very high intensity wireless emissions (radio frequency bursts) that the meters produce to signal the utility about energy usage.
There have now been electrical fires reported where smart meters have been installed in several counties in California, in Alabama, and in other countries like New Zealand. Reports detail that the meters themselves can smoke, smolder and catch fire, they can explode, or they can simply create overcurrent conditions on the electrical circuits.
Electrical wiring it is not sized for the amount of energy that radio frequency and microwave radiation. These unintended signals that can come from new wireless sources of many kinds are particularly a worry for the new smart meters that produce very high intensity radio frequency energy in short bursts. Electrical fires are likely to be a potential problem.
Electrical wiring was never intended to carry this – what amounts to an RF pollutant – on the wiring. The higher the frequency, the greater the energy contained. It’s not the voltage, but it is the current that matters. RF harmonics on electrical systems can come from computers, printers, FAX machines, electronic ballasts and other sources like variable speed motors and appliances that distort the normal, smooth 60 hertz sine wave of electrical power and put bursts of higher energy RF onto the wiring.
Wireless smart meters don’t intentionally use the electrical system to send their RF signal back to the utility (to report energy usage, etc). But, when the wireless signal is produced in the meter… it boomerangs around on all the conductive components and can be coupled onto the wiring, water and gas lines, etc. where it can be carried to other parts of the residence or building.
It is an over-current condition on the wiring. It produces heat where the neutral cannot properly handle it. The location of the fire does NOT have to be in close proximity to the main electrical panel where the smart meter is installed.
A forensic team investigating any electrical fire should now be looking for connections to smart meters as a possible contributing factor to fires. Every electrical fire should be investigated for the presence of smart meter installation. Were smart meters installed anywhere in the main electrical panel for this building? For fires that are ‘unexplained’or termed electrical in nature, fire inspectors should check whether smart meters were installed within the last year or so at the main panel serving the buildings. They should question contractors and electricians who may have observed damage from the fire such as damage along a neutral, melted aluminum conductor or other evidence that would imply an overcurrent condition. They should also look for a scorched or burned smart meter, or burn or smoke damage to the area around the smart meter. Problems may be seen immediately, with a smart meter smoking or exploding. Or, it may be months before the right conditions prevail and a neutral circuit overloads and causes a fire. The fire may or may not be right at the smart meter. Some questions that should be asked include:
Were smart meters installed in the main electrical panel for this building? Problems may be seen immediately, with a smart meter smoking or exploding. Or, it may be months before the right conditions prevail and a neutral circuit overloads and causes a fire. The fire may or may not be at the smart meter.
Any smart meter installed in a main panel might start an electrical fire in that building; it would not be necessary for the unit itself to have a smart meter. The RF emissions from any smart meter in the main panel might trigger an electrical fire at any location in the building served by this main panel because harmonics can and will travel anywhere on electrical wiring of that building.
Is there damage at the smart meter itself (burning, scorching, explosion)?
Was there fire damage, a source, or a suspicious area around the neutral where it connected to the main panel or at the breaker panel?
Was the damage around a lug at a connection on the neutral conductor in the attic at Xanadu? Was there any indication of heating or scorching or other thermal damage around the neutral in the area of the fire?
Was aluminum conductor present? Aluminum conductors that were installed in the ’70s are today recognized as more of a problem for heating than copper wire. Was the aluminum, if present, showing heat damage or melting?
Even before smart meters were being installed widely in California, people who know something about EMF and RF were expressing concerns that this kind of thing would likely happen (electrical fires due to overcurrent condition from RF signal). What is already postulated, and of concern, is that the rising use of equipment that put RF harmonics onto the electrical wiring of buildings may overload that wiring. Faulty wiring, faulty grounding or over-burdened electrical wiring may be unable to take the additional energy load.
