Smart meters making a comeback in Saskatchewan after massive recall

Smart meters will be making a comeback in Saskatchewan, after thousands of them were pulled off homes and businesses in a massive recall two years ago.

The government ordered its electrical utility to remove 105,000 metersafter more than half a dozen unexplained fires.

• SaskPower to remove 105,000 smart meters following fires

In 2018, SaskPowersays it will be ready to bring the technology back.

"We have developed a very strong meter specification, probably the best one in Canada to date," says Mike Marsh, SaskPower's president.

He says the company has spent the past yeartestingcommercial and industrial meters.

Marsh says residential meters should be available for testing over the next 12 months or so and SaskPower will begin installing them in 2018.

After that, Marsh says it will take several more years to install them all.

"We're going to be changing the deployment strategy to do fewer every year and taking probably five or six years to deploy, instead of doing mass deployment," Marsh said.

The Opposition's critic for SaskPower, Cathy Sproule, notesthe original company which sold SaskPower the meters, has since been bought out.

The government said it had reached a deal with Sensus to cover the $47-million dollar cost of the recall.

• SaskPower says smart meter company will pay back $24M in cash

"I would suspect given the failure of the last go-around that SaskPower will be extra careful in ensuring that people are protected and their residences are protected with any new technology," said Sproule.

Marsh said SaskPower has spoken to Sensus and its new owners, and the deal will still be honoured.