I AM THE President & General Manager of Aclara Meters Philippines, Inc., the Philippine subsidiary of Aclara Meters LLC, a leading global provider of advanced metering solutions, with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Aclara purchased the GE Meter business in 2015, and now owns the I-210 meter family trademarks.
I am writing to express our concern regarding your subject article posted on Friday, 20 March 2020 via your online news portal – panaynews.net and your Facebook page, Panay News www.facebook.com/pg/PanayNews/, as your Panay News article (https://www.panaynews.net/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.
There are a number of claims and statements in your news article which are unsubstantiated by facts in the Central Maine Power (CMP) case, to wit:
* “The MPUC’s investigation revealed that CMP’s GE-i210 meters contained a defect that caused them to record erroneously high usage that did not reflect actual power consumption. While many Americans suffered an average 50-percent increase in rates, some consumers complained that their rates skyrocketed much higher.”
* “Rob DuPaul, a small business owner from Maine, noted that when CMP replaced his meter with the GE-i210, his bill jumped from US$100 to as high as US$1,500, approximately 15 times the amount prior to the installation of the new meter. He eventually filed for bankruptcy.”
* “CMP has since been required by regulators to upgrade or replace its GE-i210 meters by the end of March.”
Aclara Meters (formerly GE Meter) emphatically disputes the claims in your 20 March 2020 article regarding the I-210 product, whether stated or implied. 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 to have been caused by defective meters in the MPUC Examiner Report. To generalize the matter across an American population of 128 million households, and to base the claim that “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, as these have been supplied by the former GE Meter and a second meter vendor. GE Meter supplied approximately 56% of the total population, with the other vendor supplying the remaining 44%. As the population of “complaint” meters was a mix from both manufacturers, insinuating that the GE I-210 meter is the only cause of the complaints is irresponsible.
* Public records show that 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 and tested, both GE and the second vendor meters, were within the acceptable accuracy tolerance. The largest percent error was 0.41%, with 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, systemwide flaw in CMP’s metering or billing apparatus that led to erroneously high billed usage”.
The Aclara I-210 family of meters meets industry standards and are proven to perform to the industry required accuracy. The I-210 meters have been in service and deployed to over 50 million consumers across hundreds of utilities around the world. Various forms of the I-210 meter family (I-210+ and I-210+c meters included) have been tested and passed local product certification processes by the Energy Regulatory Commission. 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.
Aclara finds the subject Panay News article inaccurate, and respectfully request that Panay News publish Aclara’s clarificatory response and Fact Sheet (attached) which we believe will straighten out the facts and findings around the CMP case and insinuation of defects in the GE I-210 meter. As the Aclara brand, name and reputation is very important to us, in the same way as providing fast, fresh, reliable, accurate and complete information is important to Panay News, we trust that Panay News will publish our statement and response with equal prominence as your previous news article, in both printed and digital form, i.e., your Panay News online portal and Facebook page, and further request Panay News to retract and correct earlier statements which have not accurately represented the facts around the MPUC findings with respect to billing complaints against Central Maine Power.
We look forward to your favorable and timely consideration of our request. Should you have any questions regarding the matter, please feel free to reach out to us. – WALDO A. DARVIN,
President & General Manager, Aclara Meters Philippines, Inc.
