MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Light Water & Gas is still in the hot seat as thousands of customers experience either high bill or delayed bills.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, MLGW met with their Board of Commissioners to explain how they are working to fix the problem.
When it comes down to it, MLGW said it was a manufacturer error that led to thousands of customers receiving extremely high bills or having delayed bills. MLGW said they found the root of the problem, but what are they doing about it?
It is a pain, hassle and costly.
“Inaccurate, the guy has to be totally illiterate if he can’t read meters that says 29308,” said Larry Pierotti, a Shelby Forest resident.
Pierotti is one of thousands of MLGW customers who said his latest utility bills are too high.
“We lost power for nine days,” said Pierotti. “After the power was restored, our first bill was $800 and some odd dollars.”
Pierotti said he paid the bills but was shocked at the second bill he received.
He said, “$1,400?! I’m going wait a minute here.”
Then, he received a third bill for almost $600.
“I’m not going to pay this one,” said Pierotti. “We sure as heck don’t use that much ourselves.”
Wednesday, MLGW President and CEO, Dough McGowen, sat before their board of Commissioners. He said bills are high because of product defects caused by the manufacturers.
“On the water meter, there was an electrical fault. It’s what’s called a register on there, which is like the odometer on your car. That was an electronic part and was having water get into it and shorten it out. So, it couldn’t read anything,” said McGowen.
The gas smart meters have a defect as well.
“There’s a mechanical part called a wriggler… That wriggler was breaking because of stress. Therefore, the meter was pumping gas into your house. It just wasn’t registering anything on the odometer on the meter,” said McGowen.
MLGW crews are going around fixing those faulty smart meters, but the replacement products are from the same manufacturers.
“Similar, this failure is not unique to MLGW. There are other utilities that are experiencing these same failures,” said McGowen.
However, it is the customers who feel it in their pockets.
“That hurt,” said Pierotti. “As a consumer, they need to do a better job.”
MLGW said our electric and gas smart meters are manufactured by Honeywell and the water smart meters by Badger. They said they are working with those companies to resolve the issue.
For those customers experiencing delays in their bills, MLGW said the most recent bill is the correct bill representing your total cost. They said you do not have to add the bills together. If you see your bill is higher than usual, MLGW wants customers to reach out to them within 30 days to resolve the issue.