A family in Decatur, Ga. is the first in the state to report that their smart meter installed by Georgia Power caught fire. Over 2 million meters have been installed in homes throughout the state.
It has recently been discovered that the meters are similar to ones that have triggered 29 other reports of fire in other areas of the country.
The family is now using a generator and a mess of extension cords because the fire destroyed the house’s wiring. Fire shot from around the smart meter Georgia Power had installed in 2010.
The smart meter allows the power company to read the meters by remote and track outages digitally. All Georgia power customers have had the meter installed and there have been no safety issues reported until this incident.
Recently smart meter opponents have been posting videos saying that the meters are a danger.
PECO, the Philadelphia utility, recently suspended their installation program for more than 600,000 meters after 29 fire reports. Both PECO and Georgia power use the same brand of the meter.
Georgia Power and a county inspector both said the problem wasn’t the meter, but with the gray base box that’s part of the house wiring.
Georgia Power is currently working with the family to fix the damages caused by the fire. The repair estimate stands at more than $11,000.