The advancements in the home area networks call for wireless data transmission for continuous monitoring and taking control decisions to strengthen the smart grid technologies. The wireless sensor networks (WSNs) using Zigbee, WiFi operating in 2.4GHz frequency band play a key role in the data transmission. Because of coexistence in the same frequency band, there is a need for research to develop a mechanism for avoiding interference and proper encoding for precise data retrieval. In our prior work, we have presented a cross-layer multi-channel MAC (CMCMAC) [25] protocol for WSNs for estimation and avoiding interference. In this paper we propose an algorithm, Forward Error Correction (CMCMAC-FEC) encoding technique for improving the performance of CMCMAC in order to enhance reliability in communication of the data by ZigBee nodes to the specified destination under the influence of WiFi environment. In this paper, the CMCMAC-FEC model estimates the corrupted Zigbee packets and recovers the corrupted data packets at the destination accordingly maximizing the packet delivery ratio and throughput. The results attained illustrate the enhanced network performance. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.