Latest news with #EDMI
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Watercare charges Auckland woman estimated $800 bill due to faulty meter
Watercare admits up to 16,000 of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters were faulty. Photo: Supplied / Watercare Watercare has issued a public apology - via RNZ's Checkpoint - to a user facing an estimated $800 water bill, due to a faulty meter. The water provider now admits up to 16,000 of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters around Auckland are faulty, generating zero bills and leading to substantial catch-up bills. Two weeks ago, Lizzie from the North Shore told Checkpoint about a $410 bill that she refused to pay, until it was "based in fact and not just plucked out of the air". She subsequently received another, even bigger bill that equated to using 4342 litres of water a day. The Browns Bay couple now face a combined bill of about $1200. "This has gone beyond being mildly irritating," Lizzie said. "I can't figure out where this has come from. "I went back through our previous bills - our monthly water usage is somewhere between $65-75. The most it's ever been was $85 over a Christmas/New Year period. "I can't figure out why they're saying we must pay our overdue accounts immediately to avoid further action, when they were the ones that agreed we should cancel our direct debit, because the previous bill was over the time. "I don't know what's going on. I can't figure out how anyone could use this amount of water. "They don't value their customers, do they?" Checkpoint host Lisa Owens was able to pass on a message from Watercare. "They say they have made a mistake, and they'll get in touch with you directly to apologise and sort this," she said. "They said they sincerely apologise for the inconvenience to you, and they will get you a new water meter and sort out that large bill, which is an estimation." Lizzie responded emotionally: "I want to say thank you to you, but it shouldn't have come to this, should it? "Could you imagine a small business trying to operate this way - they wouldn't survive. "I'm really grateful for what you've done for me ... really, really grateful." Watercare admitted to Checkpoint it had made a mistake with the estimation, blaming a processing error by the service agent. It said it would re-assess the charge in line with past water consumption at that address. Of the 16,000 fault meters, 13,672 have been shifted to manual reading and the balance are scheduled to move to manual reading. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
27-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Watercare to contact Auckland customers after 13,000 faulty meters spark billing chaos
Watercare has revealed that a third of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters are faulty, saying it discovered the issue in October 2024. Photo: Supplied / Watercare The country's largest water supplier says it will start proactively contacting customers about tens of thousands of faulty meters, following a flood of customer complaints. Frustrated Watercare customers have contacted Checkpoint about water bills in the hundreds of dollars, which were received after meters stopped transmitting data about water use. As a result, customers received bills saying they had used zero water for the month and faced paying only the fixed charges. Lizzie from Auckland's North Shore said she investigated her billing after three "zero use" bills and found that their smart meter was no longer transmitting data. "We received a bill that amounted to about $410 for a month's usage. I emailed them and said this is not reasonable. At that point, I revoked the direct debit authority. I made it very clear I was not refusing to pay their bills, but their bills needed to be based in fact and not just plucked out of the air." This week, Watercare revealed that a third of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters are faulty, saying it discovered the issue last October and started returning affected customers to manual reading, leading to ''catch-up'' bills that are higher than previous months. West Auckland customer Kyle said he was on to his second smart meter after the first one stopped sending a signal a few months ago. But he told Checkpoint his water bills are now coming in much higher than he would expect. "Our water bill on average was about $100 or $120 a month, and then it jumped to about $200, and I'm like, 'Yeah, no, that doesn't seem quite right.'" Kyle said Watercare made no effort to contact him about the issue, and it was he who raised it with the company. He said they came back to him and told him his meter had temporarily stopped communicating. Watercare said the EDMI meters were one of two smart meter models that have been rolled out since 2022. "We are really disappointed that this fault has occurred and are working very closely with the supplier to ensure Aucklanders are not out of pocket because of it. All meters are under warranty, and we're still in negotiations with the supplier. For this reason, we can't confirm right now whether we will replace all 40,000 EDMI meters. We are not replacing them until we have confirmed a solution, " said Chief Financial Officer Angela Neeson. Utilities Disputes Commissioner, Neil Mallon, told Checkpoint that he would expect a company with issues with meters to ''be really proactive with communication'' and provide them with information about what to do, such as sending the company data so it can be recorded. "It should be on every bill, really, to let customers know if you've got an estimate or an actual bill, you've got the power to do something about that. To let your provider know." Mellon said water companies were voluntary participants in the scheme, but he would like to see them become mandatory, like energy companies. "I think water and energy are both essential services to Kiwis, and they should be treated consistently. In an ideal world, that's our view. If they were, all Kiwi consumers would be able to come to us if they had a problem with their water provider." Under the current voluntary membership, it's up to Watercare to initiate an investigation into a consumer complaint. Mellon believed that about 5 percent of complaints dealt with by Utilities Disputes relate to water. Watercare has now updated its website with information for customers and said it will proactively contact customers with working EDMI meters from next week, "so that they're aware of the issue, and know to get in touch with us straight away if they get a water bill that incorrectly said they've used no water. This will help to reduce the impact of catch-up bills." Customer last names have been omitted due to privacy concerns. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Korea Herald
18-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
EDMI Launches NEOS Solution - Empowering the Energy Transition
BRISBANE, Australia, June 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- EDMI, a Global Energy Solution Leader, announces the launch of its flagship electricity grid platform, the NEOS Solution —a next-generation solution designed to transform measurement, monitoring and control across residential and commercial & industrial users, transmission & distribution networks, and generation applications. Built on over 30 years of metering expertise, the NEOS Solution delivers a unified, intelligent platform that empowers utilities and energy providers to measure more, understand faster, and act immediately. With its proprietary high-speed measurement engine, NEOS enables superior accuracy and precision for complex billing, power quality monitoring, and high-frequency waveform streaming — meeting the demands of today's evolving grid. The platform is designed for agility, connectivity, and scalability. It supports real-time data sharing via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular connections enabling seamless integration with grid applications and customer platforms. Through EDMI's edge intelligence capability and Storm software, the NEOS Solution enables both localised, sub-second decision-making and more complex orchestration across the grid via the EDMI Energy Cloud. Its robust cybersecurity, 15+ year device lifespan, local engineering support, and open architecture ensure long-term value and flexibility without vendor lock-in. "The NEOS solution represents a major leap forward in how we support our customers through the energy transition," said Andrew Thomas, Group Chief Strategy Officer & Director at EDMI. "It brings together our decades of experience with the latest in edge intelligence and connectivity to deliver a platform that is not only powerful and precise, but also adaptable to the evolving needs of the grid." With the launch of the NEOS Solution, EDMI reinforces its commitment to delivering innovative, secure, and scalable energy technologies for a more intelligent, more connected grid. To learn more about the NEOS Solution, visit the EDMI website at About EDMI EDMI is a global leader in providing intelligent energy solutions, dedicated to solving the unique challenges faced by the world's most successful utilities. Our comprehensive range of smart metering and control products, combined with advanced communications and software offerings, enables us to deliver integrated end-to-end solutions tailored to our customers' needs. EDMI is owned by Osaki Electric Co., Ltd, a leading Japanese metering solutions provider listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
