Central Maine Power Co. is asking regulators for permission to incrementally raise customers’ monthly distribution rates by about $35 between 2026 and 2031, using the new revenue to hire hundreds more workers and upgrade southern Maine’s aging electrical grid.

While the utility says the increases are necessary to improve service quality and reliability, state officials condemned the proposal, including Gov. Janet Mills, who called the hike “massive and unacceptable” Tuesday.

CMP plans to raise its revenue by more than $400 million through incremental, annual increases over the five-year period. That money would go toward hiring 400 new, full-time employees, including 200 line workers, and funding infrastructure improvements like stronger poles, upgraded substations and better protected wires, the utility has said.

To do so, the company proposes raising distribution rates annually, with the first hike slated to take effect Oct. 1, 2026, according to a notice that Public Utilities Commission staff filed Monday.

IMPACT TO ELECTRIC BILLS

Under the proposal, a typical household, using 550 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month, could see its monthly electric bill climb about $17 in 2026, followed by increases of $5 in 2027, $4 in 2028, $4 in 2029 and $5 in 2030, according to a notice CMP sent to customers Tuesday.

The company argues, however, that ratepayers would likely see relatively little change on their bills as a number of storm-recovery charges roll off over the next few years. CMP bills currently include hundreds of millions in recovery costs for extreme storms in 2023 and 2024.

The plan is designed “to take components of the extremely high storm costs, embed them in our base rates and lower the costs we pay for storms over time,” CMP spokesperson Jonathan Breed said in July.

DIDN’T RATES JUST GO UP?

The 2026-31 proposal follows years of rate hikes, including one that went into effect in July and raised distribution rates by about $5 per month for a typical Maine household.

CMP announced its half-decade plan a couple of weeks after that latest price change, but it did not provide details about future rate changes in its initial announcement.

The proposal does not account for potential changes to the standard offer — the price of the electricity itself — or to potential storm or policy costs that could also be tacked onto bills in the future.

Counting several recent rate changes, the average CMP customer’s bill has risen from about $138.76 in July 2024 to about $154.67 following the July rate increase.

CMP IS ASKING TOO MUCH, OFFICIALS SAY

Mills, a Democrat, said in a written statement before the filing Tuesday morning that CMP’s request is too much to ask of Mainers as prices and inflation increase.

“Today’s request from CMP blatantly ignores the economic reality that Maine people face every day, especially seniors on fixed incomes, small businesses, and residents of rural Maine, who are struggling with high costs of electricity, groceries, housing and health care,” Mills said. “Yet CMP wants to raise their electricity bills again.”

Public Advocate Heather Sanborn, who represents ratepayers in utility proceedings, has called the company’s requested revenue increase “eye-popping” and on Tuesday reiterated calls to prioritize affordability.

“At a time when many families are already struggling to afford their bills, CMP’s proposal asks Mainers to pay even more,” Sanborn said in a written statement. “We need to ensure electricity distribution costs don’t spiral out of control, especially as our state encourages people to electrify their homes and vehicles to meet climate goals. Affordability must remain front and center.”

Sanborn said in a phone call Tuesday that it was too early to evaluate CMP’s claim that ratepayers could actually see minimal change to their actual bills.

“At this point, we have to assume that the rate change — that what CMP is proposing — is what they’re sending out in their customer notice today,” Sanborn said. “Most Mainers do not have an extra $420 a year kicking around that they want to give to CMP.”

The state’s largest utility has more than 640,000 customers across southern and central Maine.

HOW DOES CMP WANT TO USE THE MONEY?

In a written statement, Linda Ball, CMP’s new president, said the state’s grid is regularly strained by high electricity usage in the summer and intense weather in the winter. She said the new rate structure is intended “to help stabilize the impact and cost of extreme weather in Maine.”

The utility plans to put the new revenue toward building more storm-resilient utility poles, stringing hundreds of miles of protected wire, modernizing substations, and installing other smart-grid technology designed to improve reliability and prevent bottlenecks during periods of high demand.

The company plans to replace hundreds of miles of insulated tree wires, which can help prevent blackouts and interruptions. CMP spokesperson Dustin Wlodkowski said in an email that those projects are being proposed in the York and Brunswick areas, among other regions.

Wlodkowski said thousands of customers in Greater Portland, “from Gray to Freeport to Portland and the Casco Bay Islands,” would also benefit from upgraded substations, which can handle more energy, have better-protected equipment and use smart technology to remedy outages faster. He added that similar projects have also been proposed for Greater Bangor.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The utilities commission has scheduled an initial conference to discuss CMP’s request on Oct. 1.

A pair of hearings for public comment will be held on the evenings of Oct. 14 in Freeport and Oct. 15 in Hallowell. Those who would like to offer comments virtually must register in advance by emailing [email protected] or calling 207-287-3831 and providing an email address.

Sanborn urged residents to voice any concerns they may have.

“The voices of everyday ratepayers are essential to making sure decisions about our power system put people first,” she said.

Public comments began pouring in virtually within minutes of CMP’s filing Tuesday and were overwhelmingly negative. Some residents on fixed incomes said their budgets are already stretched thin.

Mary Lisa Lawler, of Scarborough, said she keeps her electricity usage at a “bare minimum” and requested a discounted rate for seniors.

“At nearly 70 years old I still work a part time job and will until I drop dead. A seventeen dollar increase would cause great (strain) on my budget,” Lawler wrote.