Are Illegal Smartmeters causing Fires in California?

This is a serious concern because of reports of fires and electric shocks – apparently caused by Smartmeters.

So at their Feb 2011 Capitola City meeting, Councilman Termini, an electrician, asked to see the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certification, but after PG&E officials fumbled around with one of their meters, they could not produce anything. PG&E said they’d get back to the Council. (dd: As of March 4, they have not done so.)

UL logo - Missing from Smartmeters

On March 1, The Monterey City Council explicitly asked PG&E about Certification. The PG&E Public Relations man danced all around the question, and never directly answered them.

He did say he was briefed that morning on this specific topic and vaguely claimed that PG&E’s Smartmeters meet ANSI specifications. However, he never said Smartmeters were tested or certified by any independent laboratory, or whether anyone besides PG&E believes they meet ANSI specifications.

Federal Regulations separately require certain products to be tested and approved for safety. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule 29 CFR 1910) Under this rule, Electrical conductors or equipment are required to be tested and or approved.

Update: At the March 9 Pacific Grove City Council meeting, PG&E again dodged answering this question. Instead PG&E’s designated spokesman, PG Councilman Kampe (who later fought against adopting a city law), claimed that PG&E smartmeters are exempt from certification in California, mentioning a section of California code. Isn’t that curious that a councilman knows the law purportedly exempting a dangerous electrical device from certification testing – but the corporation pushing the device won’t defend it ?

Fires and Arcing Switches: SmartMeters have a Kill-Switch, Current meters do not have any switch.

This new switch makes or breaks all of the 120 to 200 amps that power your home. Any 120 amp switch greatly increases the potential of arcing which can cause fires.

Update: See new article “Fire Danger: Unknown-Safety of SmartMeters’ New Disconnect Switch”

SmartMeter catches fire in vacuum shop

A federal complaint was filed by a utility group alleging a SmartMeter sparked PG&E’s Sept. 2010 San Bruno neighborhood explosion and fire that killed eight people, injured 60 more, (6 people are still missing) and destroyed 37 homes. San Bruno had recently fully installed Smartmeters.

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