Another PECO smart meter burns up side of house
An example of a so-called "smart" electric meter
Posted: Friday, September 7, 2012 6:00 am | Updated: 8:52 pm, Fri Sep 7, 2012.
A recently installed PECO meter caught fire early Thursday and caused minor damage to a Bensalem home, a fire official said.
No one was injured, said Bensalem Battalion Chief Rob Sponheimer, who added that this was the third such fire in Bensalem since April.
Sponheimer said the digital meter was installed in late June or early July at the house in the 1800 block of Park Avenue.
Shortly after midnight, volunteer firefighters from the Eddington, Nottingham and
Newport companies were called to the house and found the fire mostly burned out, but not before it scorched the side of the home, Sponheimer said.
“The homeowner was asleep and his smoke detector went off. He went to the living room and saw smoke. He went outside to investigate and saw the meter on fire. He immediately called 911. This proves smoke detectors work and had he not had one that worked, the outcome of this fire could have been much worse,” he said.
The other two Bensalem meter fires occurred in April and May. All three fires involved PECO’s new digital meters, Sponheimer said.
Several similar fires have been reported in Upper Makefield and Lower Makefield. In the Upper Makefield incident, it was determined a failed positive connection on the meter caused the fire.
PECO’s digital meters have been implicated in other blazes in Pennsylvania and other states. Sponheimer said PECO officials have told him the meters are catching fire possibly due to loose wiring, which the utility said causes them to overheat.
Electric meters are PECO property, while the equipment where the meter attaches to the wiring is considered the customer’s responsibility, said PECO spokeswoman Cathy Engle Menendez. PECO has blamed the customers’ wiring for some of the fires.
As of mid-August, PECO said there were fire-related problems involving 13 of the 186,000 meters it had replaced since March, according to records.
“We are still working with PECO experts on the problem,” Sponheimer said. “We’ve been lucky so far with the severity of the fires. I have been on the phone all day with homeowners along Park Avenue concerned about their meters and the fear of fire.”
PECO has installed a special telephone line — 855-741-9011 — to answer questions customers have about the new digital meters and to request that PECO inspect a meter.
PECO is required to replace the meters of its 1.6 million business and residential customers in the Philadelphia region and part of York County as part of a 2008 state energy efficiency law. The law requires all Pennsylvania utilities to update meter technology to encourage energy conservation.
George Mattar, 215-949-4165;
email: gmattar@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @mattarmuses
http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/bensalem/another-peco-smart-meter-burns-up-side-of-house/article_ede8673c-0407-568b-b8b2-e6ed296f6da4.html
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