BANGOR, Maine — An across-the-board electric power transmission rate increase went into effect Friday for Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. customers, according to a company press release.
A residential customer will see a 1.36 percent increase, or about $1.10 on an average monthly bill of $81. The rate changes for commercial, industrial and transmission-level customers will vary for each company, according to the press statement.
The rate change, which affects residential, commercial and industrial consumers, is the result of an annual transmission rate adjustment that normally occurs this time of year, the company said. Transmission costs are about 15 percent of the average residential and small business customer bill. They are associated with the conveyance of the electricity from power-generating plants across high-voltage lines to the company’s distribution substations.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates transmission rates.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates transmission rates
Someone might want to check in and see how much of a good job they are doing at “regulating” this. Someone is getting paid good or sleeping
AAA+ post
No surprise here. Maine loves to import expensive Canadian Energy. Bangor Hydro does the importing since it is a Canadian Corporation now. Definitely needs a new name like, Canadian Nuclear instead of the make believe Bangor Name.
“It don’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
Glad I changed to Electricity Maine. My bill almost got cut in half.
Did it really go down by almost half ? If the savings is that big maybe I will give them a look. I understood it to be about a 6% savings but if it’s that much I will do it.
That’s what I thought till my first bill came in. My wife couldn’t believe it.
Cool thanks ! I think I will do the online sign up right now.
Mine only went down by 25.00, but still worth it.
Who is your power company
Take some more dams out and see it rise.
How very true. The reason rates continue to rise is the lack of competitive power. Too many opposing groups want their cake and eat it too. Seems like there is a group of individuals and or PACS that oppose every type of power generation. It’s no wonder we need to import our power.
Let them eat cake!!
thought wind power was supposed to save us money, and if i recall an article last fall in this paper a joint acquisition of another company we were all told our rates would go down….looks to me like we are getting it stuck up our arse way to much. Time to do something about all these regulators. Maybe they should all line up and bend over!!!
Nope. Wind power MAKES the developers money. They get money for nothin’, and RECs for free. That ain’t workin’, that’s the way to do it, bangin’ on the bongos like a chimpanzee…
Like the dang electricity bills aren’t high enough now!!! I am about ready to look into solar power. Heck I would even put a mouse on a wheel to generate power, at this point!! LOL
This because thieves are stealing their copper from storage.
You dont like the cost? If you see some one stealing next time, stop turning a blind eye to it. We all pay for it.
Bangor Hydro should be called CIA crooks in action!!
Public service companies service the public in the same manner a bull services a cow !
Electricity is going up, wages are not. Gas is going up, wages are not. Groceries are going up, wages are not. Anyone else starting to sense a trend here?
obamanomics?
The wages in this country have been stagnant for the last twenty years and health care and retirement benefits went the way of the disco ball. How is this Obama’s fault. Or Bush? Or Clinton? We really need to stop trying to make it a Republican or Democrat thing. They are both guilty of pandering to the top 1% and sending all the jobs to slave labor nations for fun and profit.
Oh yea I forgot, the buck never stops with obama!
If YOUR wages are stagnant, that’s because of you! Wages have flat-lined since obama took office, but that is about to be changed!
Wages stared flat lining back when the dim wits in Washington enacted “free” trade and held the door open for “American” businesses to move over seas to the cheap, juicy, child labor. My wages are not stagnant. I have worked for myself most of my working life and have always earned a decent living. I was speaking mostly of the peons that work for minimum wage for big corporate America. Please feel free to keep pointing the finger in the wrong direction though, the ones who are profiting the most from flat wages appreciate the distraction.
Okay, I’ll say it again very slowly so maybe you understand it…..
If anyone’s wages have remained flat in the years preceding the obama rein then it’s their own fault. Opportunity is everywhere, if you bother to look and follow it. Problem is, too many would rather sit on their can complaining while they wait for opportunity to find them! It isn’t ‘big corporate America’s’ fault, it’s a mindset bred and advanced by Progressive-ism!
I won’t ask how you know cheap child labor is juicy! You sound like an expert, so I will bow to your superior knowledge on the subject.
Thanks for having the decency to slow it down a little for my benefit. My I.Q. is only in the 99.5 percentile. You are obviously in the other .5% and bringing it down to my level is very gracious of you. There are children in third world countries that go to work for big corporate America instead of going to school every day. Or did you think the sneaker fairy brings those $10 shoes to places like ChinaMart? The working men and women of America have been going head to head with Chinese workers who earn an average of $20 a week for over 20 years now, thanks to “free” trade and the removal of import tariffs. I wonder if it is coincidence that the top 1% have seen their pots of gold explode by 300% in the same time frame? The very same people who closed down 90% of the manufacturing right here in Maine to flock overseas. These manufacturing jobs that payed a living wage have been replaced by part time retail jobs that pay public assistance wages. Do you honestly think there is a single sole working for big corporate America and their cooley wages who wouldn’t jump at the chance for a real job? I have a friend that has an associates degree in accounting and she is now working for a large retailer because she gave up looking for a job in her field that doesn’t exist. They had the sand to call her the other day and ask her to drive 30 miles to another store to fill in for 4 hours. In their defense though, they did explain that her hours at her regular store would have to be cut by four hours that week. Yeah, I know, she should quit and go find a better job. That is what I told her too. She then asked me where? I didn’t have an answer for her. Maybe you do? Being above the 99.5 percentile and all.
$1 an hour was the norm in Maine for years, when other states offered living wages. I don’t know what year the minimum wage was raised in Maine. The wages are still terrible. When a person is working hard every day and still is eligible for some type of government assistance, that is pretty sad. When an employee is asked to travel for a 4 hr shift like your friend was, that is pretty sad also.
well said………….this started long before Obama…………
Greed knows no party lines.
Obuma is going down…
Doubt it he is in support of same sex marriage now, that could just make his next 4 years. I do not believe he is in support of it, but he said he is and they will take his word for it
So you say he would lie just to get elected? Say it isn’t so!
obama believes in whatever it takes to keep him in power and mochelle in vacations!
GREED
Plus, they have found a way to make us pay for the privilege of having 250 TV channels flashing advertising at us every 10 minutes in our homes. Why are we not charging them for bombarding us with sales pitches ?
Which is exactly why I cut the cable after the first advertisement came on. I refuse to pay to have crap pitched at me 24/7. I am old school. Channels 2,5, 7, and sometimes 12! lol.
No surprise here! Has the FERC ever seen a rate increase request it HASN’T authorized?
BH has to be the country’s worst provider, certainly most incompetent!
Power goes out rain or shine, windy or calm, storm or clear, daytime or night, for no apparent reason. Call them about a tree across a wire and they do nothing about it…ever! No preventative maintenance at all! The only thing they are good at is raising rates!!!
I have a second pole on my dooryard due to its length, they offered me their insurance program and later declined it stating my pole has too much lean. WTF too much lean? I took the engineer to the end of the driveway to their responsible pole and said “That pole is yours, and that is the problem, you have a placeholder leaning, moss growing on the pole near the wires and you want to tell me my pole has problems?” he said nothing and I told him “You guys would rather see people paying your ridiculous hourly rates then what your so called protection program runs.
I complained to BHE and nobody got back to me, I think this week I will be at them again and see what their excuse is. They are taking right after CMP for being horrible overall.
I’m sorry your electric pole has “too much lean.” That’s the funniest answer I’ve ever heard to explain to the customer what the problem is. Couldn’t the electric co. straighten up the pole? This engineer is a real comedian.
lol sure my pole is not perfectly straight, in fact I had a Time Warner worker climb both poles a few months before hand and even mentioned how shoddy the pole at the road was, I asked him about mine, and he replied “I’ve seen a lot worse” and points back down to the pole at the road.
The Hydro engineer didn’t seem too fond of my pointing out at how crappy, rotted the pole was at the top. I asked him, if mother nature finally pulls them wires off or knocks one of them cross boards over and it tears down my lines, who is paying for it. And he said anything on my land I pay, I pulled out my cell phone and took pictures and I told him “We will see about that when your pole gives and knocks down lines across my land because I am not paying a dime if your pole is at fault, have a nice day”
Corporate greed/welfare at it’s finest. How much of this increase with the workers “at the bottom” get?
Sign up for Electricity Maine ………
every check i write to BHE says bsl in the memo line (blood sucking leaches) have been writing it for 25 years wonder if they know what it means
Thank you , Wind Turbines , and RGGI, and dumb Maine politicians and Expedited Wind law!
Enjoy the “Renewables” Maine.
This is actually too funny, when a few small natural gas projects would eliminate all the need for this scam resulting in lower rates, with natural gas prices the lowest in recent history, and supply abundant.
Thank you PUC as well.
Eliminate the North East link, so no more wind scamming comes on line, increasing our costs more, please!
Maine, a good state to leave for any business with any sense.
And they are allowed to sell hydro power to the New England grid so Mainers can pay extra. Why not keep Maine hydro power in Maine? It used to be a law.
Sign up. With Electricityme.com…
First off.. people are having problems paying bills as it is.. The Federal Energy regulatory has some explaining to do on this rate increase… Found this very interesting.. The company recorded revenues of $167.5 million in the fiscal year ended December 2010, an increase of 10.2% over 2009. The company’s operating profit was $58.6 million in fiscal 2010.
A 1.36% increase doesn’t even keep pace with inflation. I’d rather not have a rate hike, but when compared with the increases in everything from gasoline to orange juice, 1.36% isn’t bad at all.
Thank you Pres. Obama for the regulations that are driving coal companies – the biggest source of electric power – out of business. In his own words “utility rates will necessarily skyrocket.” Think of that before you vote in November.
Ouch about those rates. My last elec bill was $20.14 and I heat/AC/gas fireplace/washer dryer/hot water for $38.00 monthly (not Maine)
ouch about the rate hike. My last elec bill was $20.14 and heat/AC/washer dryer/gas stove/hot water is $38.00/month/