Linky installation on a wooden board: poor workmanship with risk of fire and endangering the life of others!

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

The rest of the article:

For nearly five years, Enedis has ensured that the Linkys do not start a fire. A response whose fragility is nevertheless detectable in the company's own security documents. With each fire, the company which manages the country's electricity networks hastily exempts its new generation meter. But the opening of a preliminary investigation for "endangering others" by the prosecutor's office in Caen changes the situation and forces the company to make a real inventory of the risks.

The subject is complex for those who do not know anything about electrical installations. You have to dive into the group's internal notices to understand the situation. Because if the fire risks are well underlined by documents from the company itself, Enedis has repeatedly said that it was not because of the latest generation meter. A document dating from 2016 from ERDF, the name at the time of the group's network subsidiary, already stated: “There is no risk of fire associated with Linky meters. "

Then to explain that “no fire problem linked to intrinsic meter faults has been observed” and that the fires are caused by poor mechanical tightening of the connections.

In fact, the new generation meter requires precise technical characteristics which are far from being present in all installations. And when a fire breaks out, the “intrinsic” responsibility of the meter is only a detail if it was its installation that caused it.

Since the end of November and the effective application of the Elan law, the dwellings dating from before 1992, and which were until now managed by the owners and co-owners of a building, have come under the concession of Enedis. This is where the shoe pinches. In many old condominiums, the structures may meet safety standards, without however respecting the conditions for installing a Linky.

To meet the necessary conditions, connection sections of a minimum of 4 mm are required when other generations of meters, even recent ones, were adapted to lower capacities. A risk underlined by the notices of the company which manufactures the Linky. This risk is accentuated by the remote control of the meters, which allows an increase in power without checking the risks of possible overheating caused by unsuitable structures.

This situation did not prevent technicians from installing latest generation boxes in unsuitable cases, increasing the risk of overheating and fire at the expense of safety regulations. "The security conditions are absolutely not taken into account," says an employee of Enedis. Many workers are not electricians and therefore unable to analyze the condition of an electrical installation, they are asked to put the meter down, they do it. "

Declaration confirming what the employee of an Enedis subcontractor denounced on the Reporterre site. Questioned on this subject by Mediapart, the company contests and claims to carry out "a rigorous policy of selection and training of all its partners, whatever the activity concerned: the quality of the technical gesture is a priority every day. The partners are held to the same high standards as the technicians of Enedis: they thus all meet meticulous specifications, precisely describing the operating mode and the dedicated tool. "

And the company affirms that a protocol is planned when the installation conditions are not met. “If the installation company declares, in view of its authorizations, the impossibility of installing the meter, the protocol is as follows: the installer does not replace the meter and informs Enedis; Enedis experts study the appropriate solutions for the installation on a case-by-case basis. All these interventions are not systematically the responsibility of Enedis, it is also the customer's responsibility to maintain his installation in good condition. Enedis systematically informs the customer when it identifies a state of obsolescence. None of these instructions were applied for the cases identified in Caen and submitted to justice.

The Caen prosecutor's office is seized of an investigation for "endangering others"

Difficult to assess the extent of the phenomenon. In 2015, Le Parisien already highlighted this problem of dilapidated electrical columns and the risk of fire. The daily then counted on 300 buildings concerned and spoke of titanic work that has never been carried out in a comprehensive manner: “Because securing the riser of a building can indeed cost for each apartment several thousand, even several tens of thousands. euros. Result: the total amount to renovate these 000 defective columns across the country risks reaching several billion euros. "

Five years later, how many thousands of columns have been fitted with a more powerful meter, without its installation being preceded by renovations? Justice could end up answering this question.

Last June, a technician from the company working in Caen denounced to the prosecution and the town hall what he observed in his sector. New to the installation of these meters, he also noticed, during interventions, that Linky were installed on unsuitable structures. Its hierarchy is alerted up to the highest level with responses from the management office without any solutions being provided.

And when he launches ethical alerts, he is told that his report is considered "treated" because his hierarchy has responded to his concerns (read the article on whistleblowers). However, no instructions or protocol satisfying the internal standards of the devices were provided to him. He then informed the public prosecutor's office of Caen and the town hall of the situation, on June 30, 2020: “A good number of Linky meters have been installed in Caen, but also in Langrune-sur-Mer, ignoring the recommendations of the manufacturers (of Linky) and also to his (Enedis), ”he wrote, naming several downtown buildings concerned. “With a Linky meter, you can obtain a remote power increase by teleoperation. […] Today, the risk of seeing a fire break out is great and I cannot stand idly by, ”he added.

According to our information, confirmed by judicial sources and by the Caen prosecutor's office in early November, a preliminary investigation was entrusted to the Caen police station for "endangering others". In a response where every word is weighed, the company neither confirms nor denies: “Enedis was not approached by a judicial authority in the department of Calvados, in connection with a disaster which would be related to the installation of 'a Linky meter. "

A huge financial stake for Enedis, and therefore for taxpayers

If the responsibility of the company were to be established, it is on the whole territory that verifications should be carried out. Structures should be renovated and meters dismantled in all buildings with unsuitable electrical columns. "Based on criteria defined under its responsibility and linked to an analysis of the risk of an incident and its impact, Enedis will renew at its expense the risers that would represent a risk for people or property, ie around 4 000 per year for 40 million euros of annual investments ”, assures the press service. At this rate, it would therefore take seventy-five years for the 300 electrical columns mentioned above to be renovated.

The financial stake is enormous for Enedis, and therefore for taxpayers. Deployed at full speed since the end of 2015, 23 million of these meters had been installed in early 2020, according to official figures. The goal of 35 million meters by the end of 2021 and then 39 million in 2024 is within reach. Reaching this deadline on time is a key issue for public society.

As the Court of Auditors underlined in 2018, the investment of more than 5 billion euros for the deployment of connected meters is clearly in the interest of Enedis, which has advanced the deployment budget and which cannot begin to repay themselves only when the objectives have been reached. On this condition, the fruits of the advance negotiated with the Energy Regulatory Commission will be reaped. “This deferral therefore constitutes an advance made by Enedis, reimbursed by consumers from 2021. The interest rate for this advance is 4,6% and the interest amounts to € 785 million in total over the 2015 period. -2030, that is to say on average 49 M € per year ”, supported the Court of Auditors, considering that the operation was too favorable to Enedis and not enough to consumers.

The Regulatory Commission, which framed the Linky deployment agreement, defended again last March, in the Official Journal, the results of this “incentive regulation”. At this rate, at the end of 2021, 80% of households will be well equipped with a new generation meter, without knowing the proportion of adapted structures. And, on this point, the data collected by the meter is of no use.

Never the Linky's fault

Between non-compliance with standards and the imminent risk of fire, there is a step that cannot be taken before justice decides. However, for years the associations that oppose the meter have claimed that dozens of fires have taken place because of the device, without being able to prove it. On closer inspection, several cases raised also highlight the mismatch between the connected meter and electrical systems that are nevertheless up to standard.

In February 2019, in Langoiran, in the Gironde, a fire broke out in a house. The fire could have been dramatic. “During breakfast with my two toddlers, the cracklings started and then a fire broke out which progressed in the kitchen. We got out in a hurry, the firefighters intervened in twenty minutes, when the fire reached the floor. If the fire had taken two hours earlier, during the night, it would have been dramatic, ”says the victim.

For over a year and a half, their home was uninhabitable. Disturbingly, just two weeks before the fire started, a technician had come to install a brand new connected meter. “The one who took care of the installation just installed the Linky, pointing out to me that someone had to come back to change a part that was under license from Enedis. "

For homeowners who no longer have a home, the urgent need is to apply for insurance. For fear of seeing the compensation procedure encysted by a long legal process, they first fought to obtain reimbursement of costs. “We couldn't get into legal proceedings. "When the technical expertise is validated by home insurance, the owners finally file a complaint for" endangering others "in August 2019. The local prosecution believes that the time is too long. The complaint is dismissed while acknowledging that Enedis "committed an offense". For the prosecutor, the administrative consequences were a sufficient response to the group's responsibility.
When the event was reported in the press, and in particular by LCI, elements of language found in several incidents of this type are used. The company replied that since the fire had been started at the level of the "circuit breaker" - therefore outside the Linky meter - the responsibility of the criticized box was not engaged. “An electrical installation is made up of different materials: the customer's general low-voltage switchboard, the connection circuit breaker, the connection circuit breaker, the electricity meter. The service circuit breaker is a component connected to the customer's installation. The circuit breaker is a completely separate element from the electricity meter, ”said Enedis.

Same story when Mediapart asked the question: “In each of its interventions, the distributor takes care to preserve the integrity of the connection, as it was initially designed. This approach was already that of Enedis with previous generations of meters - of which nearly a million were replaced each year - and remains unchanged with the installation of the Linky meter. Replacing the meter has no effect on the level of safety of the electrical installation. Without answering the only valid question: would the fire have started without the Linky?

[Christophe]

Thank you Chef !

You are entitled to an Orval (yes we say ONE, well only the real ones, the pure ones!) ...

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

Thank you Chef !

You are entitled to an Orval (yes we say ONE, well only the real ones, the pure ones!) ...

Thank you but not during the day, it's too much.

[Christophe]

6.2 okay huh ... Better 1 orval than 2 kro!

What am I saying better orval than just kro in any case!

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

6.2 okay huh ... Better 1 orval than 2 kro!

What am I saying better orval than just kro in any case!

Kro ... Never.

[Remundo]

The mind-blowing denial response from an ENEDIS group manager following a non-compliant installation of Linky meters directly on a wooden board!

This shows the contempt for the safety of their customers that at ENEDIS ...

In legal terms we speak, see Mediapart article above, of endangering the life of others ...

This is happening in France ...

Perhaps the churches that burn with impunity are no longer enough for some ... should the whole country be burnt down?

Hello,

Do you have pictures of what the client is talking about, because if the latter talks about a laying on the wooden paintings that were installed at the time of the construction of the building, there will be no replacement because we are to the standard of the time.

The replacement of the linky is not intended to bring back to the standard of the time all the tables on which the old meters were placed.


Sincerely,

Well if they install with the same rigor as their spelling ...

we do not say bring up to standard, but bring up to standard, or even bring up to standards.

But what is the basis of the matter (I have the Linky in one of my houses placed on a 60s wooden board)

Enedis deploys millions of Linky hard by outsourcing the dirty work to small electricians, who are probably paid very little, and above all, who have to install so many per day.

So when he meets a wooden shit, well they don't take it off and screw right on it.

Bad luck, there are Linky who heat and char by bad contact, and screwed directly on it, the wood can catch fire ...

and this wood can propagate the fire, I had seen in particular a Linky in a kind of wooden cabinet ... also placed on wood

in the 60s, the connections were coarser, but charred less, there were big thimbles and good big screws to tighten.

But now, it's the micro-hack, because we want to put less metal for the same service.

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

"Edf: We owe you more than the light" ... The flame too, no doubt ...

[Christophe]

The mind-blowing denial response from an ENEDIS group manager following a non-compliant installation of Linky meters directly on a wooden board!

This shows the contempt for the safety of their customers that at ENEDIS ...

In legal terms we speak, see Mediapart article above, of endangering the life of others ...

This is happening in France ...

Perhaps the churches that burn with impunity are no longer enough for some ... should the whole country be burnt down?

Hello,

Do you have pictures of what the client is talking about, because if the latter talks about a laying on the wooden paintings that were installed at the time of the construction of the building, there will be no replacement because we are to the standard of the time.

The replacement of the linky is not intended to bring back to the standard of the time all the tables on which the old meters were placed.


Sincerely,

Well if they install with the same rigor as their spelling ...

we do not say bring up to standard, but bring up to standard, or even bring up to standards.

But what is the basis of the matter (I have the Linky in one of my houses placed on a 60s wooden board)

Enedis deploys millions of Linky hard by outsourcing the dirty work to small electricians, who are probably paid very little, and above all, who have to install so many per day.

So when he meets a wooden shit, well they don't take it off and screw right on it.

Bad luck, there are Linky who heat and char by bad contact, and screwed directly on it, the wood can catch fire ...

and this wood can propagate the fire, I had seen in particular a Linky in a kind of wooden cabinet ... also placed on wood

in the 60s, the connections were coarser, but charred less, there were big thimbles and good big screws to tighten.

But now, it's the micro-hack, because we want to put less metal for the same service.

The bottom line is that posed. directly on a wooden board without the ad hoc plate ... there is a risk of overheating and fire ... The internal Enedis standard prohibits direct installation on a wooden board and any other non-M0 material ... it must therefore put an intermediate box ...

It is serious that a group manager who is certainly paid € 4000 net per month is unaware of this!

See the beginning of this topic ... and the mediapart article above ...

[Remundo]

they are not unaware of it ...

they just have unofficial orders from the top. Deploy Linky as quickly as possible and inexpensively.

They don't give a damn that some homes are burning.

They assessed their "benefit / risk".

here.

[Christophe]

So this group leader would be lying?

An installation must be up to standard, period, I have nothing to worry about their deployment times and their internal or external shenanigans!
A fire risk from a non-standardized installation endangers the life of others! That's all there is to say ...

The Linky is one of the ecological scams of the century because we replace almost indestructible electro-mechanics by electronics with a lifespan of 15 to 25 years (not to mention overvoltages and other network faults ...)!

I said it from the 1st debates on the Linky on this forum many years ago ... 11 years almost to the day!

electronic-electricity-computer / linky-meter-operation-and-user-manual-t9748.html