HALLOWELL, Maine — Central Maine Power customers' high bills were a result of weather, not a systemic error in its metering or billing system, staff from the Maine Public Utilities Commission concluded in a bench analysis released Tuesday.
The analysis, authorized for release in an Aug. 1 procedural order, details the circumstances that led to its release, statistics from winter 2017-2018, conclusions from Liberty Consulting Group's audit, a comparison of CMP's high bills with Emera Maine's over the same time period and a proposal for addressing CMP customers' questions regarding the conclusion.
Highlighted within the analysis is undoubtedly the PUC staff's most significant finding, which states that the CMP-Emera bill comparison showed customers for both utility companies "experienced comparable increase in billed kWh usage," leading to a conclusion that "customer bills['] relatively high energy usage for that period was a result of weather, and not a systemic error in CMP's metering or billing system," according to the filing.
Staff says this is consistent with Liberty's findings in the December 2018 audit.
A ruinous windstorm from late October to early November 2017 downed numerous trees and produced flooding, causing damage across the state. Simultaneously, CMP instituted a new billing system called SmartCare.
Some Mainers were without power for more than a week, and President Donald Trump about two months later declared the storm a major disaster.
It was the largest power outage in the utility company's history, according to CMP, affecting about 75% of its total customers.
Afterward, infuriated CMP customers complained that their bills had increased. Indeed, they had: the standard-offer price increased by 18% on Jan. 1, 2018.
Complaints flooded the PUC regarding high bills, possible billing errors and difficulties in reaching customer service, initiating an investigation in March 2018. An audit was released in December 2018 showing minimal wrongdoing.
The PUC is expected to make a decision in the case in December. A separate investigation is still being done for the Maine Public Advocate's Office.
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