Excellent investigative report from News 5 Cleveland by Ron Regan
February 15, 2017

Excerpts:

Cleveland Water uses Elster meters.

Incorrect meter programming leads to billing error, but water officials failed to inform customers with skyrocketing bills

A Cleveland water customer will high bills discovered the programming error. “The water department assured him there was no problem, never mentioned possible programming errors,  and threatened him with disconnection.”

In its report, “Factors for Water Billing Accuracy“, Itron warns that “many errors can occur during installation that can cause an inaccurate meter read”.

“Cleveland Division of Water has repaired or replaced at least 3,469 “smart meters” over the last four years since the program began…Additional records show more than 72,000 water customer billing complaints for the same time period.”