By WALDO A. DARVIN and JASON I. SUBIRANA
THE RECENT Panay News article (‘Defective’ MORE meters could swell bills 10x, subject of multimillion-dollar lawsuit”) which implicates the GE I-210 meter to inaccurate billing and a case against Central Maine Power contradicts the actual findings that are publicly available from the Maine Public Utility Commission and their Case Investigator.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) stated in their Examiner’s Report on Jan. 9, 2020, that:
“…the Commission finds that the evidence in the record shows that there is no systemic problem with Central Maine Power’s (CMP) metering or billing systems to cause the high energy measurements and increased bills.” [State of Maine PUC Examiners’ Report, p.1 s.I]
Aclara Meters (formerly GE Meter) emphatically disputes the claims in the article regarding the I-210 product, whether stated or implied. The I-210 family of meters meets industry standards and are proven to perform to the industry required accuracy.
The following Fact Sheet provide substantiated details and unrepresented facts related to the GE I-210 meter, also known as the Aclara I-210 meter:
FACT SHEET
The opinions within the article are unsubstantiated by facts in the Central Maine Power (CMP) case. Regarding the GE I-210 meter that is in-service for millions of consumers and hundreds of utilities around the world, the article omits crucial details of the GE I-210’s performance. Factors relative to safety, accuracy, and reliability at a cost-effective price for both the utility and their consumer make the I-210 meter the choice of many utilities. Features supporting enhanced, efficient, and accurate utility operations must be considered for any electric meter decision – and the GE I-210 meter has been shown to be world-class in all facets. The following are facts related to the CMP Case and the erroneously implied fault of the GE I-210 meter.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) reported they found no systemic problem with Central Maine Power’s (CMP) metering or billing systems to cause the high energy measurements and increased bills. [State of Maine PUC Examiners’ Report, p.1 s.I] The MPUC agreed with the analysis that the significant bill increases were due to the combination of: first, the consumers high energy usage during a record cold snap during the winter of 2017-2018 and, second, an increase in the standard offer price of energy in January 2018.
An implication that a GE I-210 meter defect affected many Americans to suffer an average 50-percent increase in rates is completely unfounded. The CMP matter affects no more than 650,000 households and was stated not be caused by the meter in the MPUC Examiner Report. To generalize the matter across an American population of 128 million households has no fact to base the claim of “many Americans suffered an average 50 percent increase” is sensationalized and inaccurate. The I-210 meter is deployed to over 50 million dwellings in the past 10 years, and utility satisfaction and product returns simply do not support a claim of the GE I-210 meter being a liability – yet quite the opposite.
The meter population at CMP is blended between the GE I-210 meter and a second meter vendor. The GE meter is approximately 56% of the total population with the other vendor as the remaining 44%. The population of “complaint” meters was mix from both manufacturers. The insinuation to the GE I-210 meter as the only cause is irresponsible.
According to public records, an independent investigator was engaged by the MPUC to complete a forensic audit. The investigator reviewed CMP’s meter testing lab and process to find no concerns. The investigator also reviewed the CMP test results for 2,290 of the meters from the complaint customers with claims of the inaccurate billing and high usage. Of the tested meters, all but one meter met the MPUC mandated accuracy limits. The one meter outside of the limits was an analog meter with no AMI capability, not a meter installed in the AMI program – and not a GE I-210 meter.
Further, the investigator performed his own testing on a random sampling of the entire population designed to produce a 95% confidence interval to corroborate the CMP test results. As a result, all meters sampled tested, both GE and the second vendor meters, were within the acceptable accuracy tolerance. The largest percent error was 0.41% and all other meters testing at higher accuracies. Millions of production accuracy records and utility field test records further support the investigators findings across all the GE I-210 meters produced and in-service globally.
Finally, CMP has not been required to replace the GE I-210 meters by the end of March. As quoted from the MPUC Procedural Order and Examiner’s report “In its order in Docket No. 2019-00015, the Commission found (in part as a result of the findings in […third Party…] report) that: there was no pervasive, system-wide flaw in CMP’s metering or billing apparatus that led to erroneously high billed usage”. A final Order has yet to be handed down to CMP, and based upon this finding, CMP has no expectation of being required to replace meters./PN
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(Note: Waldo A. Darvin is the President & General Manager of Aclara Meters Philippines, Inc. while Jason I. Subirana is the Division Vice President, Aclara Meters LLC)
