AARP Maine Calls on Public Utilities Commission to Reject Latest CMP Rate Increase Proposals

AARP Maine is fighting to keep electricity costs fair and reasonable. CMP and Versant don’t control the supply side of your bill.  The Standard Offer is purchased in the wholesale market by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and that price is passed on through your CMP and Versant bill without any profit or mark-up to CMP or Versant. Those rates have exploded in the past year and will increase again on January 1, 2023.

However, the Maine PUC does regulate the distribution or delivery rates charged by CMP and Versant. Both utilities have filed for rate increases for their regulated distribution charges, and AARP Maine has intervened to examine the evidence and make recommendations that reflect the implications of these higher costs on Mainers’ household expenses.

Apart from the Office of the Public Advocate, AARP Maine is the only consumer voice weighing in on this critical issue.

• Would you like more information about the proposed CMP rate increases? Please join us for a live tele-town hall forum with the Maine Office of the Public Advocate on Thursday, December 15, 2022 from 4-5PM. The town hall is free, but registration is required by clicking here.

On December 2, 2022, AARP Maine filed testimony in the CMP rate case. The recommendations ask the Commission to reject most of CMP’s rate increase and limit any increases to essential investments that will ensure an adequate level of reliability and customer service.

You can read AARP Maine's full testimony here.

Some of the details of this testimony include the following key points:

• The Commission should reject CMP’s proposed three-year rate plan.  Rates should not be approved for expenses and investments that have not yet been implemented or determined to be used and useful and prudently incurred.  Multi-year rate plans, such as those proposed by CMP, contain trackers and mandatory rate adjustments that shift the risks to ratepayers and eliminate the role of shareholders in the utility ratemaking process.  Approval of any rate increase should reflect the minimal level of investment to ensure reliability of service and customer service.
• The Commission should reject CMP’s expenditures for unnecessary projects and programs that are better funded from federal or state taxes and not utility rates.  AARP opposes investments for privately owned businesses, such as Electric Vehicle charging equipment, and distribution costs that should be properly imposed on those who want to use the electric grid to invest in energy projects from which ratepayers do not receive the revenues.
• The PUC should reject CMP’s proposed increase in the minimum monthly customer charge from $10 to $15.
• CMP’s proposed optional Time of Use rate options for residential customers, EV owners, and heat pump customers should be denied at this time due to the lack of any analysis of customer preferences, reliable evidence of customer participation, or impact on CMP’s regulated rates.  Alternatively, CMP should conduct customer research and test Time of Use rate options prior to proposing large scale programs and marketing costs.
• The Commission should require CMP to explore the potential for a peak time rebate program that would reward customers (rather than punishing customers with high peak hour rates under Time of Use rates) for reducing usage at the most expensive days and hours in the wholesale market.  This peak load reduction has value that can be used to reduce rates to all customers.
• The Commission should require improvements in customer service in return for more investments in CMP’s billing and customer service technologies.  CMP’s proposal to use a negative option to enroll customers in text messages should be rejected.
• The Commission should impose the lowest level of the rate of return or allowable profit to CMP’s shareholders that is legally defensible in light of the emergency associated with the high electric bills that have rapidly increased in the last 12 months. Utility rates are an essential pocketbook issue for Mainers, many of whom struggle to pay their utility bills along with other household expenses like food and medicine. These increases proposed by CMP will hurt every CMP customer and AARP Maine is calling on the PUC to reject these unfair rate hikes.