Bill Dunn, a retired consultant in the electric power industry, lives in Yarmouth.  

Yet again, Central Maine Power is before the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seeking a rate increase. Before the PUC acts, it is worth taking a hard look at whether CMP has earned the right to more ratepayer money.

The reliability data is damning. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, from 2016 to 2024, Maine ranked in the bottom five states for the number of outages experienced by its electricity customers — and finished dead last, worst in the nation, in six out of those nine years when major outage events are included. Even setting aside major events, Maine had the most outages in three of the nine years. In 2024 alone, the average Maine customer suffered 2.5 outages, while the national average was just 1.1.

The picture is equally bleak when measured in lost power hours. In all but one of those nine years, Maine ranked among the eight worst states for total duration of outages. In 2024, the average American lost 2.3 hours of power. The average Maine customer lost 5.8 hours — more than double.

CMP’s representatives, when pressed on these numbers at public presentations, have pointed to Maine’s storms and its status as the most forested state in the country. But this explanation does not hold up to scrutiny.

Yes, Maine is 89% forested — but most of those trees are far from where the people are. Cumberland Country, home to a large share of CMP’s customers, is just 62% forested. More importantly, unlike much of the rest of the country, Maine rarely faces hurricanes, tornadoes, significant flooding or earthquakes. The weather excuse, in short, does not explain away nine years of being among the worst in the nation.

Customers have noticed. Each year, JD Power surveys both residential and business customers on utility satisfaction. In three of the last six years CMP has ranked last among residential customers for the more than 120 utilities ranked. Among business customers, CMP has finished dead last in four of the last six years for which it was ranked. These are not the marks of a company that has been trying hard and falling short. They are the marks of a company that has lost sight of who it serves.

It was not always this way. In the late 1980s, when I chaired the operations committee for all of New England for two years, CMP had an enviable reputation. The decline began in 2000, when CMP was acquired by Energy East, and accelerated in 2008 when Energy East was absorbed by Iberdrola, a large Spanish conglomerate. Since then, the focus of the company has shifted away from reliable and economic service to Maine ratepayers and toward generating returns for its foreign parent. The results speak for themselves.

To be clear: I support significant investment in Maine’s electricity delivery system. The infrastructure needs it, and ratepayers deserve at least average reliability. What I do not support is handing CMP a rate increase on faith, with no meaningful assurance that the money will be spent wisely or that service will actually improve.

The PUC should therefore exercise rigorous, sustained oversight of any capital investment CMP undertakes. If that requires hiring additional technical staff, so be it — the cost will be money well spent. That cost should be borne by CMP shareholders, not collected from ratepayers. The PUC should also establish a return on equity that reflects the true cost of risk-free capital — something in the range of 6% — with meaningful, audited and supervised performance standards that allow for a modest bonus or penalty based on actual results.

Maine ratepayers have been patient long enough. It is time for the PUC to do its job: hold CMP accountable, demand real performance and ensure that any new ratepayer dollars are invested efficiently and in the public interest.