Versant Power is asking the Public Utilities Commission to raise their rates later this year and again in 2022.
The company wants to raise its rate for electric customers approximately $4 a month starting late this year. Another $4 dollar a month increase would go into effect one year later.
Communications and Brand Manager Judy Long says the company is aware that the request is being made during a fragile economic time for people.
“We want to phase this in because we understand that customers are facing some unique challenges this year,” she says. “While we’ve also heard from those customers that they need reliable service, and we know that we need to make system improvements in order to continue to serve them and improve reliability and customer service, we do understand that the pandemic has presented some challenges and we want to be sensitive to those challenges.”
Long says the additional money will go toward improving and protecting infrastructure like power lines.
“We just know that it’s the right thing to do to continue to invest in the system, to limit the impact of outages, to limit the duration of outages as much as we can while facing the challenging environment here in Maine,” she says.
Long says customers have been vocal about the need for improved reliability while the state experiences a pandemic and an increase in harsh storms.