TORONTO - Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority is directing local utilities to replace a certain model of smart meter "as a preventative step" after reviewing reports of problematic metres in Saskatchewan.
Last summer, the Saskatchewan government ordered SaskPower to remove more than 100,000 newer model meters that had already been installed after reports of nine fires related to the equipment.
An investigation in Saskatchewan found that rain water and contaminants getting into the meters appeared to contribute to them failing.
In Ontario, the Electrical Safety Authority says no local utilities are using the model installed in Saskatchewan.
It says "no serious safety events" have been reported in Ontario but still wants a certain smart meter model removed by March 31 as a precaution.
There are 5,400 of these meters in Ontario, which is a tenth of a per cent of the 4.8 million meters in the province.
