MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 16, 2023
If Maine’s PUC conducted semiannual bids as other states do, most home and small-business customers of Central Maine Power and Versant Power could have seen supply rates fall from roughly 16 cents/kilowatt-hour to 10 cents or so. The average household in Maine will pay a total of $198 extra through December. With nearly 720,000 homes and small businesses on the standard offer, that adds up to a total of $142 million. Philip Bartlett, Maine PUC chair, said the best way to achieve stable rates is to wean electricity production in Maine and the region away from natural gas, a global commodity that has seen prices rise and fall sharply in recent years.