Jackson sues Siemens for $225M in 'bait and switch' over faulty water meters, billing system

[TexasTowelie]

Seven years after Jackson, a 200-year-old city with crumbling infrastructure and a $35,000 median household income, began overhauling its water meter and billing system, the city is taking one of its biggest contractors to court.

Jackson signed a $91 million performance contract with Siemens Industry Inc. in 2012 — making it one of the most expensive projects of its kind in the country.

In a deal the Mississippi Development Authority approved, Jackson agreed to pay roughly $1,000-per-meter for equipment and installation alone, according to the Jackson Free Press. By comparison, recent projects in San Francisco and Baltimore came with $285.71 and $208-per-meter price tags, respectively.

“In spite of the shocking cost, the system does not work,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in an press conference Tuesday. “Many water meters were installed negligently and approximately 10,000 of them do not work as I stand here today. The billing system furnished to the city as a part of the contract has also been a disaster. Many individual residents have been receiving exorbitant bills while some of the city’s largest institutional customers have never received a bill at all.”

Read more: https://mississippitoday.org/2019/06/11/jackson-sues-siemens-for-225m-in-bait-and-switch-over-faulty-water-meters-billing-system/

[DetlefK]

1. Siemens is a top-notch company. I doubt that it's the fault of the equipment.

I guess, the contractor who installed the equipment cut some corners.