A few weeks ago there was an article in The Portland Press Herald about the ice storm we had in late December. Fortunately, we only had a flicker of lights here in Yarmouth. But I’ve heard some people were without power for a week. Crews from Central Maine Power were working long hours to clear branches, and power companies from four or five other states were called in to assist. CMP had to pay to feed these workers and put them up in motels, and rightly so.

Fortunately, I guess, I was still living in Oregon during the famous ice storm of 1998; I moved back to Maine about a week later. My current wife was living in a fairly rural area. She was without power for two weeks and lost her entire supply of beef, pork, venison and the like. She borrowed a generator for a short time from a neighbor, but it wasn’t enough to keep the freezer running.

If I’ve read correctly, the article said that the costs of our recent storm will be passed on to customers. What? Granted, it will be at a “minimal price” over a several-year period. Does that also mean CMP will give us a reduction during mild winters? Sounds only fair. Or why don’t they put that money into a “kitty” to cover the cost of storms?

I wonder if they gave my wife a credit for all the food she lost in 1998?

Let them eat cake.

Phil Caldwell

Yarmouth


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