HALLOWELL, Maine — Electric rates are going down for residential and small commercial customers in Maine.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission says new standard offer prices are going down about 8 percent for Central Maine Power customers and more than 6 percent for Bangor Hydro Electric customers as of March 1.
The total bill for both electric supply and distribution will fall about 4 percent for CMP customers and 3 percent for Bangor Hydro customers.
PUC Chairman Tom Welch says the price reductions will lower electricity costs in Maine by about $20 million next year.
Apparently a news release from PUC. BDN, I wonder why rates are going down? Hope you look into this. When apparently most everything else is going up in price, this would be a good investigative piece.
Must be all that “free” power from the wind.
BHE and CMP are Pi$$ed because of companies like Electricity Maine who are starting to take away some money. When I switched, my bill dropped by over 25%. Now some of my money is staying in Maine instead of going over to Canada with Emera.
BHE & CMP own the system that delivers your power. They aren’t supply-side like Electricity Maine which sells you the actual power. You’re comparing apples to oranges.
They also get the money that is listed as “standard rate”. Rather send my money to a local company than Canada. Besides, mix apple juice, orange juice and some vodka and you got a pretty good drink.
Yuk, apple juice and orange juice together with vodka. Sounds like what comes up after too much vodka.
I mix rum with that. Ain’t gonna waste it.
CMP does not supply electricity at the standard rate either. The money goes to a completely different company.
Why are they falling? Just because?
I’ll speculate here and say that we’re going to see a decrease because more of our electricity supply is coming from energy producers using cheaper natural gas rather than more expensive oil, coal, or wind.
Come on, thats too easy!
market competition
I suspect that as well, but an explanation would be good too, why have we been paying more in the past? BDN needs to jump on it
Why not call just call your electric company. That may also save you from having to repost on here if they update any information that doesn’t meet your standards for news reporting.
Because I’m not a journalist, and I’m trying to encourage bdn to do it because people should know this stuff. That’s why I read the news.
BDN is not going to investigate one of their biggest sales incomes.
What about MPS in Northern Maine…no reduction there? They get most of their power from New Brunswick.
Same for us folk’s who get our power from Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative.
Okay. But before I start celebrating, tell me this includes us folks up in northern Maine.
WRONG!
Now if only Time Warner would lower their rates!! One can hope anyway. :)
Surprising, no mention of CMP raising delivery rates to pay for the new transmission lines being built, probably actual savings will be minimal if at all, for the customer.
This is about SUPPLY prices dropping.
Not a word about the quietly instituted 18% increase in delivery fees associated with the new distribution system “upgrades” required to move the (puke) green windpower out of the state to the southern New England partners in NEPOOL.
Nice try- again. The upgrade was because of the aging power system in Maine! Maybe you didn’t notice, but Maine is using a lot more power now than when the current system was built. Believe what you want. Maybe you can avoid the enevitable like the rest of the coal lovers.
Riiiiiight!
That’s what Stacey Fitts, Kings junior and senior and Baldacci all said, so it MUST be true.
Snicker.
BTW, are you interested in some ocean front property up here in Aroostook County?
Don’t get production and distribution confused…their economics and cost drivers are quite different. the new lines for delivering wind power are costly and will raise the rate for distribution. To reduce the over all cost lobby LePage and the PUC to negotiate a deal with HYDRO QUEBEC.
I’ve been amazed at the decrease in my electrical bill since moving from BHE to a CMP area. HUGE decrease, btw.
Thank you Gov LePage for doing one more thing you promised to do. You promised to work on health care costs, and my wife’s insurance premiums will not increase for the for the first time ever, and she has more options to choose from under the plan. You promised to lower electricity costs, and helped bring competition here to Maine to lower our bills. You promised to hold people accountable, and you have exposed corruption in many Departments in this state. Although the last one has upset a lot of people who don’t desire being held accountable.
The policies leading to these price reductions were seberal years in the making and predate LePage’s involvement.
Don’t tell the liberals that, they will want to tax the savings.
Not tax, take.
When Bangor Hydro reads this there will be a rate increase in February.
But…but…but… LePage and the anti-wind power folks tell us wind power is INCREASING the cost of electricity.
But it has gone DOWN two years in a row.
How can this be – when we have 400+ MW of new wind capacity here in Maine?
They wouldn’t lie to us would they?
Would they?
Oh, yes they would.
Yessah