ComEd, a Chicago electricity company, has admitted that smart meters where involved in two separate “small fires” according to a report by the Chicago Tribune.
“Commonwealth Edison confirmed on Thursday that three of its smart meters, which wirelessly relay power-use data between homes and the company, have been involved in “small fires” in the Chicago region.
ComEd said the problems stemmed not from the smart meters themselves but from how they were connected to homes and businesses.
The news, reported by Crain’s Chicago Business on Thursday, is the latest among recent concerns about the safety of the devices.
Peco Energy Co., a sister company of ComEd also owned by Exelon Corp., said this month that it suspended a smart-meter installation program after 15 of the 186,000 installed devices overheated, including one that set fire to a home in suburban Philadelphia, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Then, this week, Maryland utility regulators, concerned about the action in Pennsylvania, held a hearing with four major electricity companies about smart meters, the Baltimore Sun reported. The paper quoted a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. official saying the company had five incidents of the smart meters overheating out of 65,000 installed. None failed or was damaged.”