Truck Hits Utility Pole, Thousands of People’s Smart Meters Explode

No, this is not an April Fool’s joke.

Perhaps smart meters aren’t the safest, nor the “smartest” idea to put on people’s homes after all.

Despite the fact that these meters have been known to burst into flames from time-to-time, and aside from the fact that they continuously expose occupants to electromagnetic radiation, and despite the fact that they can be used to continually collect data on everyone who lives in a home (the newer versions can send signals from individual outlets in a home every 15 seconds to be later broken down with disaggregation algorithms)… now this.

A truck crashed into a utility pole in Stockton a few days ago, causing a power surge that ultimately resulted in some 5,000 smart meters on people’s homes exploding, leaving all of them without power.

The explosions began around 8:30 in the morning. Via CBS:

When the customers in more than 5,000 homes get their power back on will depend on how badly damaged their meters are.

Neighbors in the South Stockton area described it as a large pop, a bomb going off, and strong enough to shake a house.

“The neighbor across the street, his meter doesn’t look as bad but his receptacles are all blackened.” said Brad Abernathy.

PG&E says a dump truck crashed near its Alpine substation on Arch Road. When the truck hit the utility pole, the top wire fell onto the bottom wire, creating a power surge.

So now, instead of just having to worry about continual data collection and surveillance, or the negative health effects of electromagnetic frequency exposure, or the potential for a random house fire, there’s also the possibility of a truck randomly hitting a pole and causing your smart meter to straight up explode, also damaging your home and leaving you and yours without power for at least a week, maybe longer until it can be replaced… to possibly happen all over again?

How “smart” is this smart grid again?