Firewall discussion reveal
Members of the Holly Springs Board of Aldermen got closer to the facts surrounding the automated meter reading crisis at the Holly Springs Utility Department at the April 15 meeting, after Mayor Sharon Gipson left the meeting.
Vice-mayor Dexter Shipp conducted the meeting bringing up department heads who had information to offer or requests.
HSUD general manager Wayne Jones said six employees subpoenaed in October 2024 by the Public Service Commission were to meet in New Albany with the PSC hearing April 29 and four would go April 30.
(The hearing was private and not streamed on the PSC Youtube website.)
Jones reported on the progress in getting the AMI system corrected so that customer billing can get back on schedule. General Electric’s Automated Meter Infrastructure system has failed, and there are not enough boots on the ground to manually read all of HSUD’s 18,000 meters which include about 12,000 electric meters. The rest includes the City’s water and gas metering.
Jones said billing has been delayed at the HSUD because installation of firewall software is not completed.
“Our billing is currently going to be three weeks behind,” Jones said.
He said he spoke with Matt Coward, networking and security specialist with Central Service Association, with General Electric, with IT director Derrick Jefferson and with HSUD’s Richard Boga about the firewall dilemma.
“It is unconscionable at this time that it is taking this long to install the Fortinet Firewall,” Jones said. “It’s April 15. Each day puts our billing further behind, which means the bills are going to be late to the customers. This means that we are not going be able to collect the funds to make the payments of the bills at the utility department.”
Jones said the firewall could have been installed in a matter of days according to the experts he has talked with.
Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather asked what the holdup is on installing the firewall, since it was discussed a couple of months ago.
Jones said the people he’s talked with are of an opinion that the HSUD is trying to solve an old technology with old software, which will soon be replaced once the utility purchases a new AMI metering system.
“We will gain knowledge as far as how to set up a firewall with the old GE system, but that’s not what we’re in business for,” Jones said. “We’re not in business for people to develop knowledge. We’re in business to get revenue, the billing, and move on. We need an AMI system that works so the bills don’t get further behind.
“I think it’s critical we get that software installed and I would be negligent if I didn’t mention it.”
“So, who is supposed to install the firewall?” Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather asked.
Jones said IT director Jefferson is working with the Central Service Association to install the firewall.
HSUD’s firewall has to be replaced to make it compatible with GE’s new firewall it installed after the hacking of GE’s data center.
Jefferson joined the discussion.
He said he has to take care to make sure he has current information and to verify it before CSA comes out to assist in installing the firewall. Access to a gateway (router) has to be obtained first, he said.
He was told by individuals who had set up the firewall 10 years ago that installing a firewall took them two months using antennas the GE system uses.
The antenna used for relaying the data back to GE has been set up on top of watertowers, Jefferson said.
He said that setup is not suitable.
“I’ve been working on it nonstop,” he said. “So, one thing I can say is when my hands get on it, it’s gonna get done. I will make sure it is done right.
He said he is not rushing which can cause mistakes to be made that will take longer to get the firewall installed.
Ward 1 alderman Bernita Fountain asked what timeline Jefferson could offer as to when the firewall will be in place.
Jefferson said he hopes it can be done by the end of the next week. (April 25) He said he could get back about 70 percent of the system but the remaining would take some more study.
He recommended the HSUD purchase a new metering system such as the NightHawk system that was presented to the board of aldermen several months ago.
He suggested that the board give the green light to look at another vendor such as NightHawk as soon as the election is over.
“After the election, I will jump on that ASAP,” he said. “You have to look at the technology and you look at the staff as well – what's more suited for that staff, what they are capable of doing, how shorthanded we are.
“But as far as the firewalls, they will be back up,”
Jones said the firewall was set up the for GE metering in Aberdeen in a matter of hours and someone with CSA said over 50 firewalls for local power companies were set up in a matter of hours.
Jefferson said he recommends NightHawk metering system be purchased because he was told by a contact with GE that GE will be getting out of the utility business.
“So, we are going to have to find a new smart metering service anyway,” Jefferson said.
Fountain said that at the time NightHawk was presented to the board, the finances were in such bad shape that “we could not enter into an agreement. Now we are at the end of the term, so we still can't enter an agreement. The time has passed. We just couldn't pay for it.”