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Power Systems has had a testy relationship with Hydro Ottawa for years, but launched its David-and-Goliath battle with the utility last week after one of its sales reps listened as a Hydro Ottawa employee told the prospective client that Power Systems’ equipment was unreliable, with more than 20 failures in Ottawa in the past year. Newman-Corrigall suspects the Hydro Ottawa employee didn’t realize a Power Systems rep was also attending the meeting.

“He listened as (the Hydro Ottawa rep) went on for five minutes saying not only is (our equipment) unreliable — which is completely false — but he was saying one of them that failed was in a seniors’ home and that his mother was in a seniors’ home, and he couldn’t imagine what would happen if her home had been without power,” Newman-Corrigall said.

“I was shocked,” said Heng Ting, the Power Technology’s engineering sales representative in the Jan. 22 meeting. “I had to calm myself down and decide what I was going to say to him. Then I started questioning him and asking about the project he was talking about. He wouldn’t answer me.”

Power Systems emailed Hydro Ottawa after the meeting to ask for clarification, but received no response, Newman-Corrigall said.

Just one of Power Systems MiniSubs failed last year and that was the result of a power surge from Hydro Ottawa’s transmission lines, she said. The MiniSub blew, but successfully protected any of the other customer’s equipment from damage, she said.