Alleged power meter fire victim taking SaskPower to court

Albert Kobialko is taking SaskPower to court alleging that a power meter fire caused his house to be destroyed.

CBC spoke to Kobialko after the province released a highly critical report on the Crown corporation's smart meter program.

It wasordered by the government and commissioned by its Crown Investments Corporation (CIC). It sayswarning signs were missed by SaskPower and that there wasn't enough of a priority put on customer safety.

• Customer safety not enough of a priorityfor SaskPower: Review

SaskPowerCEO Robert Watson resigned after the report's release.

• SaskPowerCEO Robert Watson resigns

Kobialko'shouse was not one of eight homes damaged by smart meters, butKobialkosays the fire happened when his old analog meter was being removed so that a smart meter could be installed.

"Wellnevermindthe province, there's been problems all over North America with those meters. I don't know if I've absorbed this all. I'll probably have more questions," he said.

The damage to Kobialko's home was severe enough for it be demolished.

"What I understand is it shorted, they shorted it out and the fire started in the basement to burn the whole house down," he said.

His insurance company is now taking SaskPower to court.

"They're the one who caused the fire and are not taking responsibility for it," he said.

The governmentordered SaskPower to cancel the $47-million program and pull out 105,000 units that had been installed.