It’s happened again!  Another AMI Smart Meter explosion and fire, but this time a quick-thinking-and-acting mom was able to prevent a catastrophe for her family, plus kept the house from burning down.

According to Fox4KC.com News,

Cerise Edwards was asleep inside her home when a small explosion woke her children, who then woke her.

“I did a little research, and I’ve seen we are not the first people in the KC area to have experienced that kind of thing.  KCP&L had problems last year with them.”

The Fox4KC.com report goes on to say,

Company leaders said they’re in the process of switching all customers to the new digital meters because the analog meters are no longer being manufactured.

What a crock of corporate propaganda or, moreover, factual error! 

Below are two electric utility meters.  The one on the left is a fire-prone digital “smart” meter; the one on the right is a safe “analog” meter, which has been perfected for safety and accuracy over decades of use.  However, an analog meter will not spy on what you are doing in your home; will not be able to interact with all your smart appliances, even shut them off or make them have “brown outs” if the power company thinks you are using too much electric power!

Source: Stop Smart Meters

Since utility companies across the country are ramping up their harassment pressure tactics to make customers, who don’t want smart meters, take AMI SMs, here is an explanation of the differences between both meters.

Analog versus Digital Smart Electric Meters
https://www.thebalance.com/smart-electric-meters-problems-1182585

By the way, AMI Smart Meters are made with plastic parts and do not have surge resistors!

Regarding the statement analog meters are no longer manufactured, well below are suppliers of safe, glass and metal, grounded analog meters.

Hialeah Meter – Meters you can believe in since 1954.
http://www.hialeahmeter.com/siphwame.html

Standard meter, 120 volt or 240 volt or both. 200 AMP. 60Hz
http://www.stetzerizer-us.com/Analog-Electric-Meter–Watthour-Meter–Analog-Only-Electric-Utility-Meter_p_51.html

GE – Electric Watthour Meter
https://www.ebay.com/i/200773074645?chn=ps

The Return to Analog Utility Meters
http://www.stetzerizer-us.com/The-Return-to-Analog-Utility-Meters_b_323.html

Buy Your Analog Meter Here
https://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/10/09/buy-your-analog-meter-here/

What to know about meter switching and/or installing

A comment made at https://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/10/09/buy-your-analog-meter-here/ by Redi Kilowatt, [who] says:

October 9, 2011 at 6:20 pm

I want to add that changing out a meter is very simple and quick. If you are changing out a “smart” meter then there is nothing at all to worry about. If a new meter has been successfully installed in an existing socket by Wellington, and it has not arced and started a fire yet, you are good to go.

The most important thing that I want to stress is to turn off all loads being fed by the meter before removing and replacing it.

Most buildings have a service disconnect located after the meter, it could be a fused disconnect switch or a circuit breaker, turn that off first. If there is no service disconnect, then go to the main load center panel being fed by the meter, there will be a main breaker inside that panel, turn it off. If there is no main breaker, turn off all the individual circuits inside that panel.

The reason for this is when a load is disconnected, it creates an arc, no load, no arc.

Make sure to take a picture of the reading on the meter that you are removing, and also write it down for your meter reader, because the new meter will be zeroed out.

Carefully snip the seal that has your meter number and a PG&E serial number, pull the seal out and put it back in the ring after you change out the new meter. I have done this hundreds of times in my career, and I have never had one problem in doing so.

Your meter reader will probably recognize that you have a different style of analog meter, but they don’t care, and most likely will not report it, they are concerned about keeping their jobs, and the more analog meters still in use, the better.

If you have to do it when it is raining, put up an umbrella the night before, and then put out a dry wood palate or some kind of non-conductor on the ground.

Wear 2 sets of gloves, rubber gloves under good leather gloves (dry of course).

When you remove the “smart” meter from its socket, you might have to gently wiggle it out of the jaws. Then once removed, simply insert the new analog meter carefully (right side up, please) into the jaws, you might have to push hard to do this. Make sure that the new meter is completely snug in the socket, test it by trying to wiggle it, it should not move at all one way or the other. Then you are good to replace the aluminum ring and seal and party on, you are pau hana (done with work). Make sure to remember to turn back on the feed to the load center, the main breaker in the load center, or all the individual circuits in the main panel.

Keep in mind that even though these new radio meters are using your electricity to transmit radio signals 24/7, they only transmit a packet of total usage data every 4 hours. So depending on when you you remove the transmitter, if your meter is actually connected with a data collector, (most are not, and still need to be read monthly by a meter reader), then PG&E will see a drop of data signal. That is the wonderful feature of the new radio meters, that if working, they can sense a power interruption in a 4 hour block, and will consider it an outage or removal of the transmitter.

That is one of the biggest jokes of all about the new meters, that they can detect power outages. When there is an outage at my house, I am on the phone within one minute to report it. The operator asks if I have any information about what might have caused the outage like: trees, wind, exploding transformers or cut out fuses.

It is the FIFO deal with PG&E, first reported gets to be on the top of the list, and chronologically after that. That can be important in a major storm.

Another tip from a PG&E lineman, if you see any downed power lines, that is the number one priority, and that will get the fastest response. [CJF emphasis]

My Suggestion:  Do NOT attempt switching your meter; have a certified electrician do it!