Family Credits Con Edison Smart Meter For Saving Their Home
NEW ROCHELLE (CBSNewYork) – A Westchester family says they were saved by a smart meter that alerted them to a dangerous problem in their home.
When Con Edison installed a new smart meter at the Conroy family's New Rochelle home over the summer, Brendan Conroy didn't think it would find a potentially deadly problem with the house so soon. "I figured they were doing it so they could charge me more," Conroy told CBS2's Andrea Grymes.
The meter detected an issue with a wire running to a box known as the meter pan. The wire was loose and burnt; information sent to Con Edison who dispatched an emergency work crew to the home.
"Essentially at any point it could've caught fire," Conroy explained. "When they finally opened the box up, the one side was completely burned out."
A Con Edison spokesperson said the smart meter worked exactly as it should, communicating problems and electricity use to the company. They've reportedly been installing millions of smart meters throughout the city and Westchester.
Conroy said the problem cost about $1,500 to fix, with about half covered by insurance. The father added that it's a small price to pay for making sure his family stays safe.
"In my experience it's a very rare thing to get good service from a utility company, but in this case, yes, in this case, we got extraordinarily good service," the satisfied customer said.