Central Maine Power customers are flooding state regulators with comments opposed to the utility’s request to increase electric rates.
The furious outpouring is coming at a time when affordability is a prime concern for many people in Maine.
More than 450 public comments were filed with the Maine Public Utilities Commission in the week after CMP filed a proposed five-year rate increase that would increase monthly bills by about $35.
The utility said it wants to raise its annual revenue by $427 million in order to hire full time employees including 200 line workers and upgrade its systems to improve reliability and lower storm recovery costs.
But customers like Nancy Exchange, of Gorham, said Maine is facing a cost of living crisis and CMP's proposal is unacceptable.
"I think a lot of people have remained silent for so long and we’re at this place where people are finally feeling empowered to speak up and finally make a change for the better," Exchange said.
The PUC said the speed and volume of comments outpace almost any other regulatory case in recent memory. CMP's previous rate hike in 2022 attracted just 89 comments.
Commenters are nearly uniform in their criticism of the company's rate plan. Maine Public Advocate Heather Sanborn said that should tell the utility its proposal is just too expensive.
"People are really struggling with affordability so for CMP to put forward a case as large as they have seems like a bit of an overstep on their part," Sanborn said in an interview.
But CMP spokesperson Jon Breed said a PUC regulatory alert emailed to hundreds of thousands of CMP customers when its rate case was filed didn't include some details about the proposal.
The rate increases in the notice are accurate, but don't reflect that hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to recover from devastating storms in 2023 and 2024 will start coming off customers' bills in the near future, Breed said.
And CMP has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to improve grid reliability, restore power sooner or update its systems to accommodate greater demand from electric vehicles and home heating and cooling.
"Balancing the need for these investments particularly because of storm related issues and growing capacity needs with affordability is something we take very seriously and we know the parties are going to be taking seriously too," Breed said.
The PUC is holding two public hearings about the rates, in Freeport on Oct. 14 and Hallowell on Oct. 15. Both meetings start at 6 p.m.
Regulators will negotiate a new rate with CMP over the coming months. A new rate is set to take effect in October 2026.
