AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted 9-0 on Thursday to support a bill sponsored by the House chair of the committee, Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, that would ban misleading winter disconnection notices as part of the collections process.
After the bill's public hearing on April 14, Berry had said the legislation would end CMP's "shameless and dishonest harassment of customers" during the winter months.
The bill, LD 1328, would prevent electric utilities from issuing misleading disconnection notices during the winter, a practice that has affected thousands of Mainers. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) does not allow residential winter disconnections, yet they do allow untruthful collections notices which convey specific, winter dates on which the customer's power will be shut off. In fact, according to testimony submitted by the PUC, in the winter of 2019-2020, CMP issued 109,573 such disconnection notices, and Versant issued 66,884.
Should the measure become law, utilities would be fined up to $2,500 per violation for using false collections tactics.
"Poverty, a global pandemic and loss of income in many households, plus the crippling impact of a PUC decision to summarily dismiss thousands of CMP billing disputes, left many customers with balances over $3,000 and $4,000," said Berry. "It is unconscionable that CMP and Versant were allowed to lie and to bully customers with 175,000 empty threats of winter disconnection in 2019 alone."
Neither the PUC nor CMP provided the committee with numbers for the winter of 2020 or 2021.
Nicole Batchelder of Leeds said in written testimony that she received one of the disconnection notices in question in December of 2020, shortly before Christmas, and that she felt she was being bullied at a time when she was already struggling.
"We understand we need to pay the bills, somehow, someday, but the disconnection notices will not make the money magically grow on trees in our backyards," wrote Batchelder. "The only thing the threatening winter disconnect notices accomplish during these turbulent times is additional, unneeded stress."
LD 1328 was also supported at the public hearing by a former member of the Maine House of Representatives, Les Fossel, R-Alna, who testified alongside his wife as a victim of CMP's billing practices and misleading disconnection threats.
"While this bill addresses a major concern I have had for years, it does not address the immediate crisis many are facing as the utilities disconnect people this spring," said Berry. "As we speak, thousands of Maine families are under the threat of disconnection at any moment. Sadly, this is especially true in Versant and CMP territory, where residential delivery rates are 58% higher than in the 97 towns served by our smaller, consumer-owned utilities."
The bill does not cover the disconnection process outside of the winter months. Such disconnections had been prohibited due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are now eligible to resume.
Berry's measure will go before the full House and Senate later this spring.
Berry represents House District 55: Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Swan Island and most of Richmond. He previously served from 2006-2014, the final two years as House majority leader, and returned to the House in 2016.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Berry] c. 812-1111