Regulators approve deal to reduce CMP storm charges to ratepayers by $850,000

Central Maine Power workers repair lines after a storm. (Evan Houk/Maine Morning Star)

Utility regulators on Tuesday approved a settlement that will reduce the amount Central Maine Power can recover from ratepayers for the cost of major storms in 2022. 

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) greenlit the deal between CMP — Maine’s largest utility company — and the Office of the Public Advocate, which represents customers in utility matters. The agreement, which was approved unanimously by the PUC’s three commissioners, reduces the amount CMP will recoup from ratepayers for 2022 storm costs by $850,000. The company’s shareholders will now cover that cost. 

Investor-owned utilities like CMP are allowed to recoup incremental costs for storms from ratepayers if the spending aligns with the utility’s emergency response plan and is found by the PUC to be “prudently incurred.” 

When it comes to the 2022 storms, Maine’s public advocate argued that CMP’s spending to restore electrical service was not entirely prudent. Specifically, the office said CMP paid too much for external contractors, didn’t put forward enough evidence to support some of the costs incurred and didn’t provide contracts for most of its storm contractors. 

The approved settlement “represents an important acknowledgement that some of the costs were both excessive and poorly documented,” Maine Public Advocate William Harwood said in a statement. 

According to a description in the settlement, in June 2023, the PUC approved a filing allowing CMP to recover about $117 million in incremental storm costs over a two-year period starting in July of that year (subject to an ongoing process to determine whether those expenditures were “prudently incurred”). 

In testimony filed in September, the Office of the Public Advocate recommended the disallowance of about $53.5 million of CMP’s 2022 storm costs. The two sides continued to adjudicate the case and eventually arrived at the $850,000 figure, which will be reflected in a Jan. 1, 2025, price change.  

Along with reducing the cost to ratepayers for the 2022 storm, the Office of the Public Advocate said the settlement requires CMP to work with them over the next few months to reduce the number of outages from future storms. 

“It’s OPA’s belief that CMP should shift a substantial amount of its spending from restoration to prevention,” Harwood said. “Currently, CMP is spending too much cleaning up after the storm and too little before the storm.” 

During deliberations on the matter Tuesday, PUC chairman Philip Bartlett added that the deal also requires CMP to file a revised emergency response plan within 30 days, make certain improvements in its use of external contractors during storm restoration and seek approval from the commission for the use of affiliated company storm crews, among other stipulations.  

Bartlett said the agreement is a “reasonable resolution of outstanding issues” and is “in the public interest, as it reduces the overall cost to ratepayers by $850,000 and incorporates process improvements going forward.” 

CMP did not respond to a request for comment about the settlement.   

At Tuesday’s meeting, Bartlett noted that given the escalating nature of storm costs in recent years, the PUC will soon start actively exploring how best to prepare for such events. 

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