I applied for renewal a couple of months ago, as soon as there was less than a year to go until expiration. With nearly a year for them to get around to it, I'm not concerned, and AFAIK it will be automatically extended even then.
Mine is a little different, as it's through NEXUS rather than GE, and the website says approval will be in "12 to 14 months". I imagine that renewals won't take quite that long, but we'll see.
Just got my NEXUS approval notice, no interview required. Almost exactly four months after I applied, so much better than anticipated.