During this past week, Bangor Hydro Electric customers allegedly received a written notification via the U.S. mail. It came in a one-sided, tri-folded, piece of paper with a Presort Std U.S. Postage Paid Permit 214 out of Cedar Rapids, IA. There is no time date. There is no return address on the address side of the sealed form and none on the back side either. There is absolutely nothing indicating the "item" is an official notification from Bangor Hydro Electric, much less that it is anything other than junk mail. Who can guess how many Bangor Hydro Electric customers simply threw it into the trash unopened.
What the Notification Says:
"On or about December 7, 2010, Bangor Hydro Electric Company (Bangor Hydro) filed a stranded cost rate case with the Maine Public Utilities Commission (Commission). The filing is pursuant to the provisions of 35-A M.R.S.A. Section 307 and Chapter 120 of the Commission's rules. In its filing, Bangor Hydro requested that the Commission approve an increase in its stranded cost rates for all core customer classes to be effective March 1, 2011 through February 28, 2014. This stranded cost revenue requirement increase represents a total annual increase of approximately $5 million over annual revenues from the previous stranded cost period (March 1, 2008 through February 28, 2011), and would result in a 41.21% increase in stranded cost rates, corresponding to approximately a 4.6% increase in overall delivery rates (including stranded costs, distribution and transmission), for all of Bangor Hydro's core customers....."
The notification goes on to describe how people can contact the PUC if they wish a public hearing to be held or petition to intervene. There is absolutely NO DATE by which the people must contact the PUC.
Gee, if the Bangor Hydro really didn't want anyone to petition to intervene or request any public hearings, they couldn't have found a better way to notify anyone of what they planned to do, could they?
I have several objections to this rate hike (not to mention this underhanded way and timing of notification. It's not as though we weren't just a bit busy this last week).
First: The manner in which this "notification" was sent out is underhanded at best. It was not forthright. There was absolutely no indication it was an official notification from Bangor Hydro Electric. There was nothing on the face of the blank white paper indicating it had anything to do with an essential utility's intention to file with the PUC for a rate hike or that we citizens had any rights IF we took certain actions within a limited and specific time period.
Second: Maine's electricity costs are already reputed to be some of the highest in the country.
Third: We have a significant number of retired people living in this state who are having to do so on a fixed income. Social Security has not provided a COLA for two years. There will be none in 2011. And yet look at what the increasing costs are in Maine for heating oil, gasoline, food, - and now electricity.
Fourth: Electrical costs in Maine are already making it near impossible for existing businesses to survive, much less succeed. How can Maine attract new businesses if electricity costs are going to increase? Only by increasing the business tax base can property taxes be reduced and school district budgets be shared with the state instead of being cut - or carried primarily on the backs of home owners.
Somehow, the Legislature has got to take steps with the PUC to put an end to this type of utility hijacking. Bangor Hydro provides some of the worse preventive maintenance during the decent weather months that this writer has ever seen.
Bangor Hydro Electric bills are divided into two parts - one being the cost charges for the number of kilowatts used (how much electricity). The second is the cost for "delivering" the electricity to our homes and businesses (as though it shows up in a truck like our heating oil). The Delivery Charges are always more than the cost of the amount used. And the sum total of these costs are outrageous. No other word for it. OUTRAGEOUS!
Maybe this is because the PUC allowed Bangor Hydro to shut down the hydro dams/plant that used to operate right here in Maine. I know. I worked for Bangor Hydro when I was in high school and attended UofM/Orono. This is when their primary office was downtown in Bangor at the intersection of State and Exchange Streets.
If you think this "notification" was underhanded, if you think this rate increase is outrageous then you can do either of the following:
Contact your elected representative/senator in the Maine Legislature - or Governor-elect Paul LePage. The newly elected Representative to the House for the Eddington/Holden/Clifton/Bradley area is Dave Johnson.
His email is - DJHouse20@gmail.com
To send a message to Paul Lepage, go to www.LePage2010.com On his home page you will find a section on the right side with the heading Transition. Click on that. It will take you to a new page where you can send him a message. You will need to provide your name and other information for feedback and the verify you are a Maine resident. Tell him/his team what you think about this piracy and how it will hurt taxpayers and new businesses.
Or - you can write to the PUC's Administrative Director at Maine Public Utilities Commission, 18 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0018, with a copy to Bangor Hydro Electric Company, attn: Bradford A. Borman, P.O. Box 932, Bangor, ME 04402-0932
If you have any questions, you can call the PUC Commissioner at (207) 287-3831, or contact Bangor Hydro at (207) 945-5621.
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It was interesting to hear (new) Governor LePage say in his Inaugural Address that one of the things that needed to happen to help the people of Maine and businesses is for the cost of utilities to go DOWN. I expect he worte his speech before he received my email, but it is nice to think we are on the same page. Obviously not that page Bangor Hydro is on.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if in the Commissioners he has not as yet appointed there will be new ones appointed to the PUC. If so, hopefully it will be before the Bangor Hydro rate increase request is heard.
See the Bangor Daily News' Letters to the Editor for Jan 5. We Mainers in the Bangor Hydro region need to make a loud noise over this sneak attack.
""...a one-sided, tri-folded, white piece of paper ... no stamp ..date and nothing indicating it was mailed by Bangor Hydro.""
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed the cheapest 'notice' they could have done; far short of the colorful self-puff newsletter enclosed in the bills.
However in New Jersey the utilities don't individually notify the customers: a notice in the newspaper (usually followed with newspaper articles and editorials) is all we ever got.
""Maine's electricity costs are already reputed to be some of the highest in the country.""
'Reputed' is non-proof. Electric in Trenton Maine now costs a penny more than it did outside Trenton New Jersey 2 years ago. Both rates are higher than in TVA rural zones or in Oregon or Quebec, lower than on Long Island NY.
Maine's rates _are_ higher than most populated areas, for good reason.....
""...cost for "delivering" the electricity to our homes and businesses (as though it shows up in a truck like our heating oil).""
Delivery costs ARE substantial. Imagine there were no wire on your street. Find an extension cord fat enough to carry the total electric load of your house. Buy enough of it to reach the nearest dam, windmill, or coal-plant. I figure my house needs about $50,000 of wire to reach the Ellsworth dam. Plus poles and tree-trimming. That's an absurd setup cost. If I finance it over 25 years, I'd pay $2,000 per year plus near that much in interest. Instead Hydro has consolidated thousands of homes, and financed (through investors) that "extension cord" so that I pay more like $600 per year.
BTW: those 'investors' may indirectly be your neighbors. Utility stock funds are good nest-eggs: the dividends are not large but they are steady, not prone to collapse like the broad market did.
""The Delivery Charges are always more than the cost of the amount used.""
Less-dense areas have fewer customers on longer wires and do tend to have high Delivery costs. Dense areas have more customers per mile of wire. Would you rather live in a city?
""...having to do so on a fixed income.""
True, but the economy is bad all over and in a way Hydro has 'fixed income'. Congress votes the SS COLA and Maine PUC regulates Hydro's profit. Hydro may argue that their costs are up and they need a rate-bump. The PUC may or may not agree.
""Electrical costs in Maine ...near impossible for existing businesses to survive... How can Maine attract new businesses...?""
Arguably, heavy energy users should move closer to generators. However despite the HIGH electric rates in former LILCO (Long Island NY) service area, businesses do OK.
""Bangor Hydro provides some of the worse preventive maintenance during the decent weather""
Not really a 'Stranded Cost' issue. However while I'm not happy with Hydro's continuity, it is FAR better than the podunk rural utility I had in NJ. Power went out for someone in any heavy rain. One storm, a wealthy neighborhood was without power for over two weeks.
""PUC allowed Bangor Hydro to shut down the hydro dams/plant"""
The big dam at Ellsworth still runs. 'Small' dams like up the Penobscot are going out of style for good reason. Their small output hardly puts a dent in our large demand for power, yet they must be monitored and controlled. There are real ecological consequences of damming fish and fluctuating downstream water. Small power is not worth the headache (management time and salary).
I don't mean to support Hydro. I feel that megalithic utility operators need to be watched very closely. Their position and sophistication gives great leverage over customers and even PUC members. However we as customers must understand WHAT the utility is asking and how it fits the larger picture.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am really miffed that the Filing and its supporting materials do NOT seem to be available online anywhere. How can I even know if I object? Must I go to Augusta and annoy the PUC staff? This is the 21st century! Such things should be posted on the interweb for dialup download.
According to the "notification", you can write to the PUC and request to be on the list to speak at a Public Hearing (to protest or whatever). Write to: Administrative Director, Maine PUC, 18 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0018. We are supposed to send a copy of such mailing to: Bangor Hydro attn: Bradford A. Borman, PO Box 932, Bangor, ME 04402-0932.
ReplyDeleteA few points to consider when comparing Maine rates to rates in other states:
Maine's per capita income rate is much lower than the other New England states, even though the Maine PUC calculates a "fair rate" for Maine based on what the other New England rates are.
Maine businesses are needed throughout the state, not just in the bid cities like Portland, Waterville, Lewiston and Bangor/Brewer. Without businesses in the tax base, local property owners end up carrying the cost of municipal and school district budgets/costs. When the people in those small towns are retired and living on fixed incomes, there is a significant financial hardship for food, heat and medical care. Finding additional dollars for utility increases in order for Bangor Hydro to add to the profit line is a human hardship.
Even the Governor said in his Inaugural Address, in order to bring in new businesses, utility costs need to go down.
When the PUC authorized the Bangor Hydro to sell its electricity-making dams years ago, it sold them to a Canadian-owned company. So now we oay Canada for our electrity. Where was PUC when it came to thinking about Mainers then?
As I said originally, the fact that the Bangor Hydro chose to file the way it did on Pearl Harbor Day was more than appropriate - a sneak attack on Maine people.