by Vicente Arenas / KHOU.com

kens5.com

Posted on August 24, 2012 at 9:18 AM

HOUSTON,TX – A southwest Houston woman is blaming a smart meter for a fire that left her home in shambles in July.

“It’s most devastating. It has taken a toll on me just telling you about it,” said Jaclynn Harwood. “This shouldn’t happen to anybody.”

Harwood provided KHOU 11 — KENS 5’s sister station in Houston — with a document that appears to be from the Houston Fire Department.

The letter states, “An unspecified electrical malfunction in the electrical meter” caused the fire.

HFD said it only found “charred remains of the smart meter and conductors” during its investigation.

Centerpoint said it installed the meter more than a year ago and there had been no problems reported.

The company said it has installed more than 2 million meters, and it’s not aware of any fires in Houston-area homes or businesses related to smart meters.

Still Centerpoint said it will conduct its own investigation to determine what happened with the meter.