Central Maine Power and Maine’s Public Advocate are at odds over the utility's spending to restore power after several storms last year.
The public advocate argues that the utility's storm restoration costs are "excessive" and "imprudent," and believes that regulators should prohibit CMP from recovering about $53 million from ratepayers.
Maine Public Advocate Bill Harwood said CMP didn't follow its own policies for restoring power during storms, and he believes too many outside contractors were hired in a bid to earn the goodwill of customers.
"We know that CMP can spend money in huge quantities and improve service," Harwood said. "We also know that some ratepayers, maybe a lot of ratepayers, can't afford large increases in their rates, and so we're trying to get this balance right."
Finding that balance between speed and affordability is particularly important, Harwood argued, as storms become more frequent and severe due to climate change.
But at a public hearing Tuesday, a few business owners and municipal officers came to CMP's defense. They argued that they depend on the utility to quickly restore power.
"As our residents grow older, due to life expectancy increases and a greater emphasis on aging in place, the need for faster restoration becomes far more serious," said George O'Keefe, the economic development director for the town of Rumford. "For some of these residents, the stress of an extended storm outage is potentially lethal."
And several businesses and trade groups submitted written comment as well.
In its filings with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, CMP argued that the public advocate misinterpreted its emergency restoration plans and said that it doesn't set absolute staffing caps.
The utility's response to last year's storms, particularly the event that brought heavy rain, wind and snow to Maine close to Christmas, was a success, CMP said.
"Residential, commercial and industrial customers, local and state officials, first responders, EMA leaders, and we believe the Commission itself, expect CMP to restore electrical service as quickly and safely as possible after a storm," the company wrote in Dec. 5 testimony to the PUC. "In responding to
each of the storms in 2022, the company strived to meet this expectation. Had the company responded to the 2022 storms in the way the [Office of the Public Advocate] suggests, customers would have been without power for hours and days longer, including over the Christmas holiday."
