Recently the Public Advocate’s Office released an independent analysis of CMP’s billing practices. Among many things, this report confirmed what consumers already know – CMP didn’t do their due diligence before launching the SmartCare billing system in 2017, and they haven’t taken adequate measures to correct some serious system defects that continue plague ratepayers with inaccurate bills.

CMP’s response to this report, while predictable, was disappointing. Linda Ball, CMP’s VP of customer service, took to the airwaves to refute the findings saying, “The amount of kilowatt hours that we are billing them for is the right number of kilowatt hours … ” pointing to a conflicting report by the Public Utilities Commission.

But here’s the thing, the PUC report was like comparing apples to oranges. The PUC knows it, CMP knows it and the 97,000 ratepayers who have received erroneous bills certainly know it.

While the PUC report compared the number of billing errors experienced by CMP versus Emera customers, it didn’t account for the severity of the errors. As a result, a 1 cent error on an Emera bill is weighted equally to a $1,000 error on a CMP bill.

Obviously, the heartburn and distress caused by a one cent overcharge doesn’t compare to that of a bill that has spontaneously doubled.

The bottom line is that Maine ratepayers deserve better. We deserve a consumer-owned Utilities that holds the public in higher regard than the utility, and we deserve a utility we can trust. We currently have neither.

Tasha Dolce
Alfred

« Previous

Letter to the editor: Thibodeau will lead with integrity

Next »

Letter to the editor: Snyder would be great role model as mayor