PORTLAND, Maine — Statistics show Maine’s largest electric utility is shutting off the power to a record number of customers who haven’t paid their bills.
Last year Central Maine Power disconnected 29,554 homes of residents, an apparent record number.
That figure is up 60 percent over the 2007.
Officials say the disconnection activity at CMP is an indicator of the weak economy and the utility’s more aggressive efforts to collect unpaid bills.
Maine State Economist Amanda Rector says the high number of disconnections makes sense since the economy is doing poorly and the bills aren’t getting paid.
The Maine Sunday Telegram requested the shut-off statistics as a way to examine the relationship between power disconnections and the state’s economic health.
When David Flanagan sold CMP to its current owners about a decade ago he received 16 million. He’s been an influential player in various Maine enterprises ever since, not least in writing the UME System’s plan for increasing the size of the System bureaucracy, marginalizing the seven campuses, and centralizing lots of services better left to the individual campuses. In his earlier role, while head of CMP, he chaired the System Board of Trustees, he wanted to impose some pseudo-scientific model for determining the efficiency of faculty, whose real use of time he knew little about.
Maine Sunday Telegram requested the shutoff numbers—Perhaps Sussman and Pingree could reach within their “compassionate” Democrat hearts and provide the money to save these people from shutoffs, instead of pouring millions into campaign PACs.
Save the 99% with your 1%!
Perhaps a “Joint Effort” irrespective of party affiliation would be more appropriate. In time of crises, everyone gives.
Everyone gives? That depends if your assets are hidden in the Virgin Islands.
like mitts?
I have no political party affiliation, and I don’t vote, but since you seem to like taking the partisan slant on most issues, why don’t you compare Romney’s charitable giving to Obama’s and Biden’s. Just sayin.
I wasn’t one who brought up the off shore accounts, and Donald Sussman’s not running for President. Also in my book if you don’t vote, you shouldn’t complain!
Freedom of speech is not dependent upon your attendance at the voting booth!
http://swampland.time.com/2012/04/13/is-mitt-romney-really-more-charitable-than-barack-obama/
But the Obama’s giving was pitiful until they saw they would be required to disclose their giving. Despite Meechell getting a quarter million dollar ($250,000) raise right after her husband was appointed to the senate by the Chicago political machine they gave less than 1% to charity. Those Obama’s are so generous when someone is looking and it might effect their lust for power, otherwise not so much.
No, like Rochell Pingree and her husband. I wouldn’t expect you to know, the rags in Maine that pass for newspapers don’t cover it.
So, where did you get your information? Not from the story in this paper -?
Exactly. If you get your “news” from the BDN you wouldn’t know that Rochelle’s hedge fund manager husband used a Virgin islands tax shelter to avoid paying his fair share in taxes. Meanwhile Rochelle wants to raise YOUR taxes. Man, you can not make this stuff up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/national/18taxes.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1
“But federal officials say the biggest threat to mainland tax coffers may be the emigration of highly compensated hedge fund managers who have begun claiming the program’s tax benefits, executives like S. Donald Sussman, the founder of Paloma Partners of Greenwich, Conn., which manages nearly $3 billion in capital.”
Why is a Spanish corporation in control of heat and lights for Maine people?
Essential utilities such as power generation should be in autonomous control of Maine state government.
Europe’s economy is dragging our own down. So this Spanish corporation jacks up its prices and turns of the lights in Maine homes, just so they can keep their own on.
Your second line has a little socialist ring to it and that’s scary. I do agree however that basic necessities like power should be better controlled so that no one suffers needlessly !
This “Socialistic” thing is tiring.
We have to protect our interests. Power generation is top priority. If companies can disinterestedly toss their generating facilities into a foreign corporate office at will, where does the public stand? What recourse do the thousands of electrical customers under the Spanish CMP rules have? The “Socialist” thing is never mentioned by those in our government who enjoy the benefits of government medical services. However, it becomes “Socialist” if a Health Plan is passed to aid everyone.
Years ago, FDR and an engineer came up Quoddy Tidal Power. A Republican Congress, others, and Canadian government opposed it. Today, years later, we are carefully picking away at the plan with limited exploration. Big business didn’t want the feds running the privately – run power business. Today, Canada owns Bangor Hydro, and CMP is under the Spanish flag.
And both Bangor Hydro and CMP are operated under the laws of the United States. It matters not what country owns them, if they operate here they fall under US law.
Major utilities, such as electrical services, should not be allowed to fall under ownership of foreign corporations.
Thanks to Baldacci, King and the wind syndicate our rates go up. For what we wasted on wind power we could have had clean, cheap, reliable hydro power but the enviros don’t want anything that might draw more productive citizens to Maine.
Destroying hydro dams doesn’t make sense. Blocking Quoddy didn’t, either.
Maybe! Maybe the Koch Bros could donate what they spend in 1 day to promote their dirty pipeline across Maine! I wonder how many of those shut off were former employees of CMP who were laid off when they switched to out of state contractors.
Definately add George Soros to that list of possible donors. he left many in Maine with no jobs.
The same could be asked of the GOP Super PAC’s and their donor’s. Given the current amount of cash running thru the GOP right now, and with Mitt’s ‘tookas’ in the media-wind right now over his pie-in-the-sky economic recovery plan, this might be the time for the GOP to show their compassion. Or is it reserved for those that have their Mitt for ‘Prez’ decoder ring only ? Time for the GOP to put’s actual money where it’s actual mouth is.
LOL Mitt probably would help out, but his free cash is tied up somewhere between China and Switzerland.
How about the land lords and banks who own these homes pay for the electricity? It isn’t my fault they rented or gave a mortgage to people who can’t or just don’t pay their bills.
My guess is the “unplugging” situation will only worsen as electricity rates rise. The Spanish company who owns CMP is currently building an enormous transmission line in order to accomodate the intermittent pulses of energy that industrial wind projects will be injecting into the grid. Ironically, Iberdrola (CMP’s Spanish parent) also happens to be building many of these industrial wind installations. The federal subsidy monies (US taxpayer dollars) that they’re raking in to build their wind projects would be far better spent on energy efficiency for Mainers. Electricity rates are expected to rise 19%. The rates have already started to climb because of CMP’s transmission line “upgrades” but the newspapers haven’t covered this story. Not important enough. It might become more important when businesses start looking to relocate elsewhere. If this is considered progress by our legislature and the PUC, many more of us may up living in the dark. The Pain in Spain is now being inflicted on Maine.
‘ It might become more important when businesses start looking to relocate elsewhere’ Have you looked around lately? most of them are gone! I don’t understand how developing new technology like wind power is going to drive our rates up. if that money was given to CMP for improving efficiency, you know it would end up in Spain. Look at the tax breaks and incentives given under Pine Tree which were used to finance Maine industry moves to China. it is just to mentallity and lack of soul in the modern American Businessman. To most of those who were shut off, I am sure this comes as no big surprise and they will survive. There are worse things that can happen in life than losing ic
You don’t understand how developing new technology like wind power is going to drive our rates up?
Google “What every Maine ratepayer needs to know”.
and how taking more dams out will drive electric rates up. The cost of windpower is not fiscally responsible.
save the fishes….after all, that’s what is really important to the voters on southern Maine.
The bigger question here is why are the rate’s rising since the PUC is supposed to keeping them under control for the benefit of all Manier’s, both business and residential. At the rate this is going no one is gonna be able to afford the CMP rate’s. Then where they gonna be ?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could choose who we purchased our power from?
Don’t go all capitalist on us now; the masses stuffing their face @ Big Burglur don’t care.
Competition is a good thing. For those of us that pay our electric bills the result would be lower costs. For those who are struggling to get by, lower bills would (most likely) mean fewer shut offs.
I for one don’t particularly feel CMP is as good a steward to the public as they should be. Whenever we lose power to a storm it’s anywhere from 5 or 6 days to as much as 2 weeks for some to get it back. They should have a better tree pruning program etc. I can’t tell you how many times over the last 10 years I’ve had to uproot my family for days while these people get their stuff together. We used to have snowstorms up to the telephone wires when I was a kid and I don’t remember prolonged outages like that then. Ooops, that was Bangor Hydro then. Hmmm….
CMP quietly jacked up its transmission rates two weeks ago by 19.6% for over half a million ratepaying homes and businesses. The reason was the new transmission lines necessitated by Angus King and John Baldacci’s corrupt wind power scam. That is a HUGE increase.
Google “What every Maine ratepayer needs to know”.
CMP and BHE transmission rates cover the costs of transmission systems in Maine, as well as a portion of the costs of inter-state systems throughout the New England region. The July 1 rate increases reflect the costs of recent and ongoing transmission reliability upgrades.”-Commission Chairman Thomas Welch
Where do you read new lines for wind power into that?
The transmission upgrades including the CMP upgrade are 100% for wind farms.
You made the statement…Back it up! Where’s the proof? I’m getting tired of folks making these statements based on he said she said! I know that power lines have a lifespan, just like everything else. when you have to put new tires on your car, do you blame that of wind power too? I am not buying some statement from someone who doesn’t like a wind turbine blocking their view of the sea birdsover the ocean. Where’s the proof?
MPRP MPUC public hearings transcripts.
Did you even know that CMP’s transmission rates just went up by 19.6%?
Non of the papers reported this.
Yup…Sure did.
Maybe, but many/most of CMP’s major transmission lines are several decades old. You can’t tell me such lines don’t need an upgrade at this point, wind or no wind power.
Everywhere in the world where wind farms are being put in, new transmission is needed.
This is widely known. When T. Boone Pickens couldn’t get the Texas ratepayer to pick up the transmission bill, he had to abandon his “Pickens Plan” and wind.
Down with the GRID.
Wait till heating season. There are way too many Mainers who cannot afford to live in Maine. Foreign energy corporations have taken over Maine for outrageous profit. Mainers better start packing now and heading South before the first Winter Winds start to blow. Going to be many a frozen to death Mainer with LePage as their Govna.
The rates are set and approved by the Maine Public Utility Commission. Rates cannot be raised without a public hearing. There are also numerous regulations about how much of each energy type (coal wind biomass, hydro etc.) make up our energy pool. Those factors go into that cost and the “outrageous profits” which are in part set by the state are nothing compared to the outrageously expensive decisions made by the PUC and our legislators.
The electric rates will soar if we have bad hurricanes and it has already been announced that the hikes would start this summer in effort to pay for repairs from the last round of storms. Has the Gov. literally taken money from Mainers and making it so they cannot pay their elec. bills?
That rational is pushing it a bit. The PUC sets rates.
Please remind FPL of the PUC. That is where I read that report.
Link Please? Especially the part that says Paul LePage is responsible for acts of God.
St.Augustine Record is where I read it and it was several months ago. FPL is in that area as is in part of Maine. As for your 2nd part, I merely asked if the Gov. will get accused of this electric shut off too. He seems to be blamed for everything.
No problem, bus tickets are cheaper than paying their electric bills. If we paid for the elderly electric bills and bought the able bodied bus tickets, we’d be better off anyway.
LOL LePage is to blame for people not paying their electric bills LOL
If they are too poor to live in Maine then they should move. Lay off the Allen’s coffee brandy and the scratch tickets for a few weeks and buy a bus ticket.
This new world order is working out great. The more we “help” third world country’s the more we become like them. Europes disaster has not hit yet, and another round of forclosures are coming. Now the government spends millions on subsidizing worthless wind projects destroying Maines natural habitat. Our leadership has become parrots mimicking sound-bytes and party lines; the people are self medicating standing for nothing and falling for anything–great. Maybe I should quit reading the paper.
Saved myself time and went to Maine Sunday Telegram myself, more details there, thought BDN had staff across the state? Instead the pull an AP article….funny how that works
Wow, the perfect family for your rant, amazing…
You say “rant” do you agree with what this family is doing?
No it means they think he is not being completely honest in his little rant – and nether do I.
Believe what you want. This story is 100% true and I am ashamed to be related to this family.
The problem with your little rant is that Mainecare does not pay for elective surgery.
Don’t believe me – call DHHS and ask.
Apparently there is wriggle room in State guidelines if you are a Type II diabetic resulting from stuffing your face 24/7. They are building a case that the surgery is medically necessary – instead of taking personal responsibility and eating moderate amounts of food like most of us.
I’ll laugh even more when they land in the ER for “overeating” after the surgery… you can only eat a small portion when you have this done.. both my parents have, and they’ve done great.. both lost over 160lbs.. and look great..
Have you considered the fact the some people don’t have an off switch when it comes to food, and that are unable to control what or how much they eat. Personally I don’t ever feel full. I try to limit what I eat with portion control. But it doesn’t always work. And before you call me lazy, fat etc. I work 50+ hours a week, pay taxes, have insurance, etc. Have you thought that maybe they need help to control their diets, education to understand what is good and nutritous to eat and can help them to lose weight. Have you considered helping them yourself? Every person’s situation is different, maybe they don’t know how to budget or control their expenses. Most people can control their situation, some can’t
So what does this have to do with disconnecting electricity?
i am a type two diabetic it sucks
they push the isnulin if your blood sugar is over 300 mine is
yes they do if its a medical issue….you must have dialed the wrong number..
So if there is a medical reason then it would not be elective would it …… just saying
If they are close to the guideline for being able to have the state cover the cost of the surgery, they “elect” to overeat to get their weight over the threshold allowing the surgery to now be medically necessary! Another true story! ……..just saying
You are remiss. Gastric bypass for weight loss is often covered. I know of two examples. One had cardiac issues and the other had diabetes brought on by excessive weight.
Glad all you arm chair Doctors are so much smarter then the real ones.
Then I guess we need to reform all insurance as other peoples bad choices affect my rates.
Little Billy fall off a skateboard – not paying he elected to get on it.
Car accident – not paying you elected to get in the car.
Cut yourself and need stitches – not paying you elected to be near a sharp object.
Having a baby – not paying you elected to get pregnant.
Really guys you can make a excuse for every situation
How do they feel about you putting their business in paper ?
But, besides that , thank you for kind permission in allowing us to believe what we want. (Well, if all progressives were too polite to reply in kind, the loons will never realize just how foolish they really do sound, and besides that, I couldn’t resist )
Hey Mitt, just think about that for a minute, maybe all the abusers of the system should be reported to the paper. What do you think?
There, that seals it. It has to be true, they are related.
You aren’t alone. Almost every family has one.
Not so ashamed that you pry into their personal affairs and post them on the Internet!
It seems to me that your family needs to divorce you!
This kind of stuff happens in every city and town in Maine, how do you not see that? That is the stuff the Governor is trying to stop! Perhaps you just don’t want to see it..
Then on that note as a taxpayer I don’t think we should be paying one dime toward the whole Lepage families health insurance – they are all over weight and why should tax payers have to pay for the bad choices they make?
Take your blinders off mcmaineacjam….there are a LOT of families just as concernedMainer1 described (obviously , given the numbers stated in the arrticle). These are the same folks who have internet, cell phones, Ipods, etc. The writer was spot on….the people he described are the ones who sell their EBT benefits for cash to get butts and booze or use those benefits to stop at Circle K for chips and soda every day but then hit up the food pantry. A lot of these people will whione that they have children at home…the same kids that are neglected, abused and are never a priority if mom and dad (if they are even together) need their fix. It’s a cliche but it is true in your case…Denial isn’t a river in Africa.
BDN – There was no reason my previous post should have been removed. There was no profanity or personal insults, only facts. I thought you liberals were supposed to be open and accepting of all views?
Shutting off electricity in the winter would cost land lords and bankers allot of money when the pipes burst from lack of heat.
Your not going to get the Republicans to back any legislation that hurts their bosses at the banks
We have our own meters on apartment houses to run the furnance to prevent this from happening.. This year and every year forward we plan on raising the rents 15% per year every year, to cover our cost.. we have lost money for the last 3 years and since selling apartment buildings isn’t attractive any longer as an investment they are hard to sell… The only way to make money as a landlord is to build large complexes.. since we just get by I don’t have 3 to 5 millon to invest… Landloards pay enough already thank you.
I wasn’t really serious about forcing land lords to pay to keep their apartments heated when their tenants can’t.
I was responding to the Tea party/Lepage types who think every bad thing that happens in America is caused by welfare bums and single moms.
As you might already know, 99% of the laws and regulations in the world are written to benefit the bankers.
Sell and get over it.
anecdotal stories
I would expect no less from a liberal living with blinders.
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anecdotal, yes exaggerated, no
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I work constantly so the criminals can have my last dime for their premium Perrier water or their newest politician. What about you?
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So what do you do these days? Are you collecting money from somewhere? There are no shoe shops for the present young people to work in, so put yourself in another time and place and realize where your judgement of people is flawed.
I work 40 hours a week in retail, face to face with the public, i get a pretty good idea
Maine…open for business…..we’re all just in the dark.
I once wrote down a quote, not sure where it came from but it went something like this: “Never underestimate the power of a cold Yankee afoot in the dark.”
LOL. Just think if the welfare system was reamped in this state. 1. They would have to get a job. 2. Stay in to eat (which they might lose a couple of lbs). 3. Lose thier smartphones. 4. And in turn help those of use who work to assist tose who really need it. But hey what do I know windpower pays thier taxes.
I am old enough to remember when not everyone had electricity. It is not a major failure in life unless you let it be. The big loser is CMP because they stop running the bill up and lower their chances of collecting. they don’t shut off unless all other avenues are exhausted.
electricity cost way too much anyways i’m glad no one is paying them bloodsucker!!
I thought wind power was free.
Only if you can’t afford to pay for it!
How many of these disconnects are people who are trying their best to pay their bills? How many have turned off cable and internet? How many have given up their Budweiser, cigarettes, weed or pills? No one minds helping someone who is helping him/her self but way too many of our “poor” don’t prioritize to pay their bills first and have luxuries second. Too many have the mind set that they deserve all they can get and have no responsibility for the mess they are in.
Pay the bill like every other responsible citizen and this won’t happen. It has nothing to do with wealth or poverty. I qualify as poor but we make sure the mortgage gets paid, the utilities get paid, food, etc. You can keep your electric low if you are wise and resourceful. We switched to Electricity Maine to lower our supplier portion of the bill. People who can’t budget their paycheck deserve what they get. It can be tough – real tough but our parents and grandparents grew up in Maine learning to live within their means. People need to prioritize. You don’t need fast food or crap at Walmart – buy in bulk – travel only when you need to. This isn’t about class warfare or poor verses middle class. This is about being a grown up man or woman and taking care of your family first.
I’d like to shake your hand.
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I believe we will see more of this in the future when wind energy doubles the costs..
bush? did it?
They also have a nosey neighbor with nothing better to do than to watch every move that they make and post it in the newspaper!
LOL
There are so many out there making payments or not and then taking trips to Disney, Vegas etc. I was taught to pay bills FIRST then spend your fun money. Smart phones etc are a luxury, not a necessity. There is too much ENTITLEMENT going on and the rest of us have to pay our bills, why not everyone?
0-0-0-0
There will always be people who struggle to pay their bills for whatever the reason. However, they are just as many who know how to play the game, and these people are repeat offenders.
I’m sure there’s individual responsiblity in over-eating, but I also have read that there are certain foods that actually promote hunger during the digestive process and cause you to feel hungry much sooner than the foods that make you feel full and keep you from eating too many times in the run of a day.
Hey maybe Omama will make a national electric bill system as well. Then those who do not have the money can take more from those who earn it and cover electric bills to? Hey why not just make everybody work for the gov nobody gets a paycheck and everything is free for everybody????
Has anybody blamed LePage yet?
can anyone compare the cmp rates to bangor hydro?
Electricity rates rise 300% with wind farms. Roughly the same amt of energy produced from the statistics the wind farm corporations purport.
Read cohoctonwindwatch …Appeals could jeopardize wind farm deal. This article states
The applicants to the PUC were actually Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service, the regulated utilities in Maine that are owned by Emera.Commissioners gave their approval despite the PUC staff’s recommendation to reject the deal because it put ratepayers at risk of paying higher prices.
So Bangor Hydro out of Canada, parent company Emera is financing ME wind farms. CMP out of Spain is also pushing for transmission lines solely for the wind farms…our rates go up 300% and tourism is ruined for what …greased politician’s palms?
I am calling BDN every time that I am censored and registering a complaint.
I just wish there were more options after they disconnect it. You can be making payments and maybe have a hard month and if they shut it off, the only way to get it back on is to pay the balance in full. They should at least offer the past due payment for re-connection. Not everyone has a pile of money set aside for those situations when they cant even afford to buy groceries.
never wait until you’re disconnected. If you know you’re not going to make the bill, call CMP. I’ve had some hard times and they have always been willing to work with me, and have the best customer service department I’ve ever had to deal with.
Also, they are required (and they will tell you this when they know you can’t make the bill) to tell you about where you can get help with your bill. There are a few agencies that you can contact to apply for help if you are truly in need.
Free Financial help
instead of buying booze every weekend, make a bill payment every weekend
No wonder electricity is so expensive here…you need all those extra teams to disconnect and reconnect!
I am not a deadbeat but I am having trouble paying my bills. As a landlord, my tenants’ needs come before mine. So…I am thinking about
those solar lights that people put out in the yard. If those are in all
the windows, it seems to me they’d create enough light for the house in
the evenings. As for other issues, there are laundromats for washing and
drying clothes and ice chests for food. WE ARE MAINERS and we will
survive and thrive through this craziness.
the 800 line wont let you in to make a payment arrangement by the time you get in you are disconnectedpeople are calling in to make arrangements calls are being cut off
because you are supposed to make a payment arrangement before you’re disconnected.
you need a refridgerator to store insulin
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why is cmp shutting people down the hottest time of the year
No mention how many former Bangor Hydro customers have been shut off and thrown from the electric grid. Bet it is close to an additional 30,000. Especially since the northern part of Maine is even poorer ,older and more impoverished. Should be a very interesting Heating Season coming up for Maine and its residents?
People went without power for two or more weeks during the ice storm in the worst of winter.They learned how to live without power. Some may be happy to have one less bill to get sick over!
Sorry I cannot live without electricity. I for one don’t want to go back to the Dark Ages.
Interesting that people bring in the term “socialist.” Perhaps if early American History were better taught, with exposure to minutes of colonial town meetings and meetings of the governors and councils of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with probate lists from the colonial period, students would learn that colonial New England was largely founded in household communes, banded together to form towns that were partly socialist, partly capitalist. Where do they think the terms “community,” “town meeting,” “town school,” “town roads,” and “town commons” came from? How about the term “on the town,” or “militia duty?” How did colonial New Englanders pay their taxes? Ever hear of 32-teams of oxen hauling a mast log? Think one capitalist owned 32 ox teams? Not hardly. Towns men pooled their resources for the common good. Capitalism was local, and benefited locals as well as the capitalists, whether it was an individual or a group that put savings into a bridge, grist mill or saw mill. “Corporations,” when they came along, had to show that they would benefit the citizenry in order to get permission to incorporate. Socialism coupled with the self-reliance of household communes was the method of economic survival until the Industrial Revolution came along and concentrated so much capital in a few hands that “capitalists” were gradually able to influence local, state and federal government to become their tools. Marx and Engels weren’t revolutionaries; they were reactionaries, fighting against the destruction of the family farm, village social structure, and artisans’ commerce that had evolved in Europe between feudalism and the Industrial Revolution. If you really oppose “socialism,” don’t call the VFD when your house catches fire; put it out yourself. Don’t call the town EMT service if you have a heart attack; give yourself CPR. Don’t use the town, county, state or federal road system; bushwhack across country when you go shopping for groceries, and don’t bother to attend town meeting; you’ll have to compromise with other community members.