Area leaders hear about CMP’s upgrade plan

By RANDY SEAVER | Editor

More than two dozen local community and business leaders attended a special event sponsored by the Biddeford + Saco Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday to learn more about Central Maine Power (CMP) and how the utility delivers electricity to more than 670,000 residential and commercial customers in Maine.

Linda Ball — CMP’s relatively new Chief Executive Officer — led the lunchtime gathering with an overview of how the utility handles its operations, billing and customer service.

**LUNCH & LEARN** | Area community and business leaders said they learned some good information during a lunchtime event featuring a Chamber of Commerce presentation by the Central Maine Power Company. (*Seaver photo*)

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Later this year, CMP is scheduled to appear before the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to request a rate change that will help offset the costs of a 12-to-13-year program that CMP says will upgrade the grid and reliability across the region.

Many CMP customers throughout southern Maine this week received a written notice from CMP about the company’s plan to go before the PUC.

CMP’s service area
encompasses 11,000 square miles
and includes 25,000 miles of road

According to Ball, who took over as CEO roughly seven months ago, CMP is conducting several similar meetings throughout the region. She said the company is hoping to be more proactive in its public communication, education and outreach efforts.

As an example, Ball referenced the Hills Beach Road neighborhood that is located in coastal Biddeford.

That neighborhood, which juts out into the ocean waters of Saco Bay, was experiencing frequent outages.

In response, the company focused on upgrading power lines and utility poles in the area as well as tree and brush clearing to prevent wind-driven events from impacting the power lines.

“Our efforts to address that issue showed a dramatic improvement in reliability for our customers in that neighborhood,” Ball said — speculating it was unlikely that any of those customers even noticed the improvement and the company’s efforts to address a long-standing problem.

But Biddeford City Councilor Patricia Boston – a resident of the Hills Beach neighborhood – told Ball that she personally noticed an improvement in service and hasn’t experienced a power outage since the work was completed several months ago.

**COMMITTED TO SERVICE** | Linda Ball — CMP’s new chief executive officer — traveled to Saco Wednesday to meet with area business and community leaders. (*Seaver photo*)

Ball said the company’s long range improvement program is designed to balance reliability and affordability.

“In everything we do, we are constantly working to find that balance,” Ball told the Gazette during a brief interview after the presentation.

If the PUC approves CMP’s filing request, no customer would see an increase of anything more than $7 per month, she said.

Ball said she always appreciates the opportunity to meet directly with electricity customers.

“Meetings like this are very helpful because we’re dealing with some very complicated issues,” she said.

During her presentation, Ball explained several basics about how CMP operates and delivers electricity to its clients.

“We take our responsibility seriously,” she told the crowd, noting that the company enjoys an 87 percent customer satisfaction rating. “Of course, it would be better if that number were 99.9 percent – but it’s still a good number, and our entire is focused every day on improving our performance.”

Former Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman, State Rep. Alexender Marshall (D-Saco), former Saco Mayor Don Pilon and Delilah Poupore, executive director of the Heart of Biddeford, were among those who attended the “lunch & learn” event in a third-floor conference room at PeoplesChoice Credit Union.

Ball stressed that CMP does not generate electricity and said customers have several options about the sources of their power. But she also warned consumers to “be careful” if choosing a new source of generation.

“Sometimes they offer you temporary incentives to sign up, and then the billing spikes after the introductory period.

According to Ball, CMP’s service area encompasses 11,000 square miles and includes 25,000 miles of road.

Of the company’s 672,000 customers, 570,000 of those are residential customers, she said.

ABOUT CMP |Go here to visit Central Maine Power Company

ABOUT MPUC | Go here to learn more about Maine Public Utilities Commission

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