Smart meters installed in Hanley, Sask. despite problems

The opposition says the government put people at risk by allowing SaskPower to install smart meters on 400 homes in the town of Hanley, Sask., even after those meters were found to be causing problems elsewhere. 

The NDP has been hammering the government all week over its smart meter program, after a report was released on Monday which found customer safety was not a big enough priority for the Crown corporation.

A timeline of events in that report discusses a test project which began in Hanley in the summer of 2012. 

In August of that year, Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) announced it was postponing its smart meter program after 14 incidents of overheating with the same version of Sensus meter. A month later, SaskPower executives decided that the meters should also be removed from homes in Hanley.

Trent Wotherspoon, deputy leader of the NDP, says the government used people in Hanley as guinea pigs. 

"This minister had information that these meters were dangerous, that other jurisdictions were shelving this relationship and he continued to expose Saskatchewan people to risk," Wotherspoon said. 

CBC News contacted Kathy Menendez, a spokeswoman for PECO, who confirmed that the Philadelphia utility contacted a number of power utilities in the industry — including SaskPower — to tell them about an investigation concerning problems with their Sensus meters. That was in August of 2012. 

The Minister responsible for SaskPower, Bill Boyd, says while he and SaskPower officials were aware of problems with this version of the Sensus smart meter elsewhere, officials did not believe the meters were the source of those problems. The report released Monday says SaskPower even got a "letter of assurance" from Sensus saying the meters were "free from issues that could cause catastrophic failure".

Asked today what he would say to the people of Hanley, Boyd said, "anytime that somebody's put at risk in terms of safety, that is not something the government of Saskatchewan would want to see happen. If that happened that is wrong."

Those meters were eventually removed from homes in Hanley on October 16 and 17, 2012.

Residents concerned, mayor not

The mayor of Hanley, Marvin Gerbrandt said Friday that his town was aware that SaskPower was using the community as a test site. Gerbrandt said he considered it "logical" to leave the meters in place for the full testing period.

Gerbrandt said he was unaware, however, that there were problems with other meters. Nevertheless, he said there were no issues with the meters in Hanley.

"If you're driving down the highway everyday and there's no accident, is that an issue?" Gerbrandt said. "It didn't happen, so our feelings are positive in the town of Hanley."

Some residents of Hanley expressed concern the meters were left in their homes after problems arose elsewhere.

"I just want to know why it took so long to finally figure out that there's problems [and] why they didn't do anything sooner," Hanley resident Kerry Sheffield told CBC News Thursday. "It concerns me, I mean, I have two children and the fact that it could have had a fire at any point just scares the crap out of me."