AUGUSTA, Maine — Just days after the Public Utilities Commission staff said extremely cold weather was the big cause for price spikes in Central Maine Power bills in the winter of 2017-2018, Maine’s public advocate says the real problem is errors in the company’s metering and billing systems, and that those problems haven’t been fixed.
Public Advocate Barry Hobbins filed the report with the PUC late Friday afternoon. It is the result of investigation by consulting firm BerryDunn of Portland, which began last year. And while the PUC staff report looked at utility bills and usage from December 2017 to April 2018, the BerryDunn analysis covered May 2018 to August of this year.
The PUC staff report said it was the unusual cold in the winter of 2017-2018 that caused people to use much more electricity, which caused many bills to spike. But Hobbins said his investigation found lots of errors and problems with CMP’s controversial SmartCare billing system.
The report states, in part:
"We believe the number of customers continuing to register complaints regarding the accuracy of their invoices is a reflection of the continuing problems and that such complaints will not subside until deliberate and effective measures are taken … to identify of the problems …"
Hobbins said he hopes the consultant investigation will push the PUC and CMP to follow the recommendations.
"Let’s get this fixed," Hobbins told NEWS CENTER Maine. "We’re saying there are defects still there, anomalies still there that need to be addressed, and if those issues aren’t addressed we have a situation where the average person who pays their bill every month has no trust and confidence in that bill."
Hobbins said one of the recommendations is for an independent, third-party test of the SmartCare billing system and the metering system, to prove they are reliable.
PUC chairman Phil Bartlett said he doesn’t know yet if the commission will follow that recommendation. Bartlett said the new report doesn’t contradict the earlier PUC staff report as they cover different periods of time. He also says the staff report doesn’t mean the commission itself is satisfied.
"We continue to be very concerned about the number of billing errors, the response to those errors and the significant number of unresolved complaints," he said.
Bartlett said the commission will use both reports as part of the ongoing investigation, which is scheduled to last into December, at least.
A spokesperson for CMP provided the following statement:
"CMP will take time to thoroughly review the audit results from the sample of 1300 customer accounts analyzed by the Office of the Public Advocate and respond, as called for in the ongoing MPUC investigation process, by October 16."
"CMP has determined that the recent MPUC staff analysis, that aligned with the Liberty Consulting Group audit, determined there are no systemic issues with our Smartcare system following an analysis of customer data for every customer account and meter and more than 4 million bills. Should the OPA audit reveal an undiscovered malfunction with the SmartCare system, CMP will, of course, correct it."
Other stories related to CMP:
- Utility watchdog to blame CMP errors on new billing system
- PUC staff: High CMP bills a result of weather, not error
- CMP announces initiative to improve customer experience
- PUC: No decision on CMP rate hike until after case
- Lawmakers want more answers on CMP case
- CMP bills increase by nearly $1; additional $3 proposed