Central Maine Power Wants To Raise Rates By $400+ Avg/Year; Also Wants 9.8% Guaranteed Profit For Its Shareholders
Frustrated ratepayers and climate activists gathered in Freeport, Maine, last week to protest yet another rate hike proposal by Central Maine Power. CMP’s proposal, submitted to the Maine Public Utilities Commission in September, would raise electricity rates over the next five years, generating roughly $1.4 billion in additional revenue to fund grid reliability and efficiency upgrades. For the average customer, that would mean about $35 more per month by the end of the period.
CMP, a subsidiary of Avangrid—a Connecticut-based energy company that operates eight regulated utilities across the Northeast—is the largest of Maine’s three major electric utilities, serving more than 646,000 customers across the state’s southern and central regions. While CMP delivers power, it doesn’t control generation as ISO New England manages the regional wholesale market that supplies Maine’s electricity. Approximately 67 percent of Maine’s power currently comes from renewables.
The utility says the increased revenue would go toward five key initiatives: installing stronger utility poles, running hundreds of miles of covered wire to reduce tree-related outages, adding smart technology to thousands of grid locations, constructing modern substations and expanding its “Danger Tree” removal program.
EDIT
But CMP’s request for a 9.8 percent return on equity—the profit its shareholders would earn on their investment in the company—has drawn sharp criticism from consumer advocates and lawmakers who say it would unfairly burden CMP’s ratepayers. “Even if CMP’s plan is perfectly suitable, residents can’t afford an almost 10 percent return that will go straight to shareholders,” said Seth Berry, a former state lawmaker and executive director of Our Power, a utility advocacy group and a leading force behind last week’s rally. Investor-owned utilities like CMP averaged a 9.6 percent return on equity in the first half of 2023 nationwide, costing consumers billions to supply what Berry sees as excess profits.
EDIT
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23102025/central-maine-power-proposed-rate-hikes/
= new reply since forum marked as read
