Putting the "Pow!" in Power Company: Or, How Not to Install an Oncor Smart Meter.

Working for the electric company's not exactly a job you'd expect to put you in the line of fire, but this morning, one Oncor employee found himself on the wrong end of a shotgun. Dallas Police report that when worker showed up to replace the meter at a Fair Park...

By Kimberly Thorpe

August 18, 2009

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Working for the electric company's not exactly a job you'd expect to put you in the line of fire, but this morning, one Oncor employee found himself on the wrong end of a shotgun. Dallas Police report that when worker showed up to replace the meter at a Fair Park neighborhood home, the homeowner shot at him twice.

The employee had first knocked on the front door at 2726 Park Row to inform the homeowner that he was here to change out the meter. But the owner was asleep at 8:55, police say, so the employee walked to the back of the house and got to work pulling out the old meter.

"When he awoke, he believed the Oncor employee was breaking into his house," DPD spokesperson Lt. Andy Harvey tells Unfair Park. (The police report says the 69-year-old man believed his air-conditioning unit was being stolen.) The homeowner fired two rounds of birdshot from his shotgun, which hit the employee in the leg. "It didn't break the skin," says Harvey. (The police report says the Oncor worker was actually struck in the left shoulder with wood splinters.)

Police have classified the offense as "deadly conduct" and will send the case for review to a grand jury, which can decide to indict or dismiss. Police say the victim was looked at by Dallas Fire Rescue, but was not taken to a hospital.

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