Company tripled its prices without notifying customers or obtaining their consent to new contracts
MEDIA CONTACT: William Harwood, 207-624-3687, William.Harwood@maine.gov
HALLOWELL, ME – As part of a settlement negotiated by the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA), the Staff of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and Electricity Maine, approximately 20,000 Electricity Maine customers will receive refunds of up to three months of prior charges. The settlement was approved earlier today by the PUC.
The settlement ends a lengthy investigation into Electricity Maine’s billing practices after the company switched its customers to variable rate contracts without their consent. The OPA received more than 125 complaint calls and emails from Electricity Maine customers in the space of four months between 2022 and 2023.
Public Advocate William Harwood said, “Electricity Maine customers were overcharged by millions of dollars compared with what they would have paid had they paid the standard offer price for electricity.”
In 2000, the Maine Legislature restructured the state’s electric industry by taking power companies out of the generating business, allowing them only to deliver electricity. For the supply of electricity, consumers can choose either the standard offer rate, which is set annually by the PUC, or alternatively, choose a competitive electricity provider (CEP) such as Electricity Maine, whose rates are not subject to PUC review or approval.
In its complaint to the PUC, the OPA showed that Electricity Maine was charging some customers a rate more than double the standard offer rate, without obtaining customers’ consent or notifying them that the rate had increased or that their contracts had been extended.
A financial penalty of $315,000 is also part of the settlement. Harwood said, “Given the company’s unsatisfactory practices in Maine over the last few years, it’s my fervent hope that this will remind them to respect our laws of fair trade.”