PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULED FOR BANGOR RE: BANGOR HYDRO PROPOSED RATE INCREASE

To All,

A NEWS RELEASE was sent out Wednesday, March 9, 2011, by the Maine PUC Hearing Examiner, Benjamin Smith, to announce a PUBLIC HEARING will be conducted
THURSDAY, MARCH 17 at 6pm at the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson College in Bangor, Maine.

The issue (for members of the public to know speak up) is Bangor Hydro's request for a "stranded cost rate hike". This increase will be added to the "delivery and transmission" portion of your Bangor Hydro bill - not the cost per kilowatt portion.

The rate increase was intended to become effective March 1, 2011. However, because various individuals (and groups) have protested the legality of ANY stranded cost increases under federal law, and the negative impact any utility rate increase will have on Maine residents and businesses, those of us protesting are unwilling to sign any settlement before (1) Public Hearings are conducted and (2) a court of appropriate jurisdiction rules on the legality of stranded costs being charged to state residents when the utility company is owned by a non-United States company. EMERA, which owns Bangor Hydro, is a Canadian company. The federal statute being cited by Bangor Hydro as justification for charging stranded costs only applies to U.S. owned companies.

This writer has fought for Public Hearings to be held in Bangor (instead of the behind-the-scenes-telephone-conferences which have been going on ---the normal
procedure for the PUC).

I URGE YOU TO forward this information to all of your friends in Northern and Eastern Maine (Bangor Hydro customers). Please ATTEND THIS MEETING AND SPEAK UP. We need to pack that room!

It is time to speak up and object to the standard rate increases that Bangor Hydro has been granted every year since the company was sold to EMERA.

If you want to review the entire (public) documents and filings for this case, go to the Public Utilities Commission's website (www.maine.gov/mpuc) and access the Virtual Case File. Enter docket number 2010-377 in the Case ID field to retrieve available documents. Be advised, you will NOT be able to read any of the Confidential data or discussions that have been going on in recent weeks.

You can also send letters to the Commission (referencing Docket Number 2010-377), attention Administrative Director, Karen Geraghty - 18 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0018.

Be aware, one of Bangor Hydro's original justifications for the rate hike was their unfunded liability for Bangor Hydro employees.

Just how many corporate responsibilities are we, the taxpayers, supposed to carry on our backs? This lack of corporate responsibility needs to stop somewhere. Time for Mainers to stand up and say "ENOUGH."

For more information on this issue, read previous postings on this blog. For more information re: the Federal Statute in question, yesterday's posting has some information.

Thank you