A New Jersey company on Thursday urged the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to require monitoring of stray electricity like that which was shocking dogs in downtown Santa Fe late last year.

David Kalokitis and Connie Hughes of Power Survey Co. in Kearny, N.J., said their firm is the only one in the country that specializes in detecting what is known as "contact voltage" from faulty electrical systems.

New York state has required routine monitoring in all cities of more than 50,000 since 30-year-old Jodie Lane was electrocuted in 2004 when she stepped on a slush-covered Con Ed junction box while walking her dogs in New York City's Lower East Side.

Earlier this year, Public Service Company of New Mexico repaired a streetlight across from the Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi after a San Francisco couple reported their dogs were shocked Dec. 31 as they walked through the area.

Hughes, a former member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, said she and Kalokitis visited New Mexico shortly after the incident to demonstrate their equipment to Public Regulation Commission member Jason Marks in Albuquerque.

Their SVD2000 — a stray voltage detector that fits on the back of a pickup — found a 100-volt short circuit from a traffic signal at Marquette Avenue and Fourth Street and other smaller voltage leaks at two other sites in downtown Albuquerque.

Kalokitis, who helped develop the SVD2000 at the Sarnoff Corp., said that if a person leaned against the metal traffic signal equipment and was not wearing rubber-soled shoes, the 100-volt shock would be similar to sticking a finger in a electrical socket.

Stray voltage has been studied ever since dairy farmers began complaining that their cows were giving less milk because of tiny shocks from electronic milking machines and other electronic equipment.

But the more serious problem of contact voltage occurs in urban areas with aging infrastructure where "energized surfaces" can cause fatal or near-fatal shocks.

Hughes said no central organization keeps track of shocks from contact voltage because people tend to report incidents differently — to the police, fire departments, state regulatory bodies or the utilities themselves.

After hearing Thursday's presentation, the PRC took no immediate action on the issue.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.