1 million Linky meters break down due to ants every year

Linky connected meters are the target of ants. According to Enedis, 1 million electricity meters are ravaged by these insects every year. In the event of a breakdown, a meter armed with special protection will be installed by a technician.

UFC Que-Choisir, the consumer defense magazine, relays the testimony of Michel, a Frenchman who lives in the Loire-Atlantique department. The man claims that ants have tripped his Linky meter, recently installed by Enedis.

“My meter box is located outside at the bottom of the garden, 90 m from my house. I was installed a Linky only two months ago. It has since stopped, cutting us off. When I went to see if I could rearm it, I was surprised to find a multitude of ants on it”, explains Michel, surprised by his discovery.

Read also: a bug displays an electricity consumption of 290,000 euros, the Linky meter has gone crazy

The Linky counter attracts ants

He then contacted Enedis. “The operator I called asked me to scroll through the information, I did, without success. A technician therefore moved. He told me that it was a very common failure due to ants who love a component of the Linky meter and who create repeated short circuits”. continues the testimony.

The problem is obviously known to the Enedis teams. According to the grid operator, 1 million Linky meters, out of the 34 million laid in France each year, break down because of ants every year. In May 2021, Enedis already claimed that this problem was far from new. Most ant outbreaks apparently occur between March and September.

According to a Linky user interviewed by Le Canard Enchaîné last May, there is starch in the connected meter. “The circuits inside are coated with a substance based on starch, the sugar found in plants. It attracts ants, they clump together, the meter detects the equivalent of a power surge and causes the cut”details the customer following an exchange with Enedis.

For his part, Bernard Prost, Linky expert at Enedis for the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes area, tempers the seriousness of the problem and ensures that “in the vast majority of cases, their presence does not generate incidents”. If a technician identifies an ant problem, they replace the counter with a version with specific protection for its electronic cards to prevent ant invasion.

Source: UFC-Que Choisir