Powershell example in Protecting credentials used for automation doesn't work

# Read XML configuration file
[xml]$config = Get-Content "D:\test\configs\mediaserver.xml"
 
Write-Host $config.Configuration.Password
# This writes the correct password to the screen
 
# The session won't open with this code:
# Set up session options
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
    Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
    HostName = "usefulmedia.com"
    UserName = "gplimpton"
    Password = $config.Configuration.Password
    PortNumber = "2222"
}
 
 
# The session opens correctly with this code:
# Set up session options
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
    Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
    HostName = "usefulmedia.com"
    UserName = "gplimpton"
    Password = "actualpasswordstring"
    PortNumber = "2222"
}

Write-Host ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8).GetBytes("actualpasswordstring")
Write-Host ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8).GetBytes($config.Configuration.Password)