When can CMP shut off power in Maine?

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The 18-month emergency moratorium that prevented utility companies from shutting off services due to the coronavirus pandemic will be lifted on Tuesday.

Utility companies will require customers to reach a payment plan agreement for outstanding balances, and those that do not pay may have services shut off until they are able to settle past-due bills, the Sun Journal reported.

Under Maine regulations, residential customers cannot have their electric and gas utilities disconnected between Nov. 15 and April 15 without approval from the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

The moratorium was originally lifted on Nov. 1, but because of regulations, it effectively remained in place over the winter.

Central Maine Power Vice President of Customer Service Linda Ball told the Sun Journal that the company is trying to offer “pretty generous terms” to aid customers who have fallen behind in payments.

Ball noted that customers who have experienced extenuating challenges throughout the coronavirus pandemic can also apply for rental assistance through the Maine State Housing Authority. There are also a number of heating assisting programs available for CMP customers, including the Electricity Lifeline Program and a state Arrears Management Program that can provide assistance for low-income customers.

Philip Bartlett, chair of the utilities commission, said that companies are expected to work with customers and maintain flexible communications.

“If they are not, customers should contact the commission’s Consumer and Safety Assistance Division for help,” Bartlett said in a Thursday statement.

Maine's Supreme Court has backed Central Maine Power's decision to send disconnection warnings to customers last winter after a moratorium that prohibited sending shutoff warnings was lifted in November 2020.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission's request to dismiss the complaint to reinstate the moratorium was upheld Tuesday by the justices.

Following the lifted ban, several customers requested that the freeze be extended through the winter but the commission denied the request, The Portland Press Herald reported.

The group filed a complaint against the utility provider alleging that the provider acted unreasonably when it sent notices to its customers during Maine’s coldest winter and amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

CMP said that the disconnection notices aligned with state regulations. Customers are also generally protected from power shutoffs from November through April because utilities have to get approval from the state to shut off power to homes during the heating season.

Members of the commission said that ending the freeze would help customers limit their utility debts and reduce the chance that utility companies would increase their rates to cover revenue lost to unpaid customer bills.

Catherine Hartnett, a spokesperson for CMP, said the company did not disconnect any customers between Nov. 15, 2020, and April 15, 2021.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs have not responded to requests from The Portland Press Herald for comment.

For the first time in 18 months, Maine’s utility companies are allowed to disconnect service to customers who haven’t paid their bills starting Tuesday.

That doesn’t mean people who owe money to Central Maine Power or any other utility face an imminent loss of service, though.

Utility companies are typically ready, willing and able to work out payment plans and figure out how to keep services on – and this year, unlike most, there’s a pool of cash from the federal government to lend a hand to some of those in financial trouble due to COVID-19.

“We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars to help Maine people catch up” after “a really rough year” since the pandemic slammed the nation last spring, Linda Ball, CMP’s vice president of customer service, said Thursday.

Under Maine law, utilities are almost never allowed to shut off service during the winter, between Nov. 15 and April 15. Last year, in recognition of the widespread woes created by the coronavirus, the Maine Public Utilities Commission imposed an emergency moratorium that kept the cutoff ban in place until the winter rules kicked in again.

But regulators declined to keep the moratorium in place this year, allowing utilities to deal with people who don’t pay as they usually do.

Ball said, though, that it’s still not a typical year.

Though the company sent 65,000 customers letters warning them about past due bills, Ball said it hopes most of them will work out payment plans, often with help from state and federal programs that aim to keep the power on for as many Mainers as possible.

“We know things have been tough,” Ball said, and CMP is trying hard to offer “pretty generous terms” to help customers who have fallen behind catch up over time without losing their service.

The chairman of the PUC, Philip Bartlett, said in a news release Thursday that people who have fallen behind should “reach out to the utility to work out a plan to address past-due balances.”

“We expect utilities to work with customers and be flexible,” he said. “If they are not, customers should contact the commission’s Consumer and Safety Assistance Division for help.”

Ball said there are a few more people than usual who haven’t paid their bills. But, she said, there is a lot more aid available to help them than typically exists.

An emergency rental assistance program operated by the Maine State Housing Authority doles out millions in federal aid to Mainers who have COVID-related difficulties paying their rent or for utilities. It is possible to apply online.

Ball called it “a really fantastic program” that people should check into if they’re having a hard time making ends meet.

In addition, there is a heating assistance program that may offer help, an Electricity Lifeline Program and a state Arrears Management Program that offers qualified low-income customers help in reducing their past-due balances.

Ball said the most important thing for anyone who owes money on utility bills is to take some action.

“Not paying it and avoiding it is not going to make it go away,” Ball said. “Not doing anything just makes it worse.”

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State regulators have ruled that Central Maine Power will be allowed to continue sending disconnection notices to households with past-due balances during the winter season.

The decision from the Maine Public Utilities Commission follows a complaint by 10 customers and State Public Advocate Barry Hobbins, who says the disconnection notices are intimidating to ratepayers who may be struggling financially because of the pandemic, and don’t make it clear that consumers have many options for paying their bills without getting disconnected.

“It’s misconstrued to say unless you pay it off in full you’ll be disconnected at some point, when in fact that really isn’t the case,” he says.

Hobbins is calling for a moratorium on disconnection notices, similar to the federal moratorium on evictions.

CMP spokesperson Catherine Hartnett says the notices do show how much a household owes but encourage consumers to reach out for help.

“The notices also strongly encourage people and advise them that if they were to call the company they could work out a payment arrangement over long periods of time, where they could begin to pay down those balances rather than continue to have them accrue and find themselves back in a similar situation in April,” she says.

CMP is not permitted to turn customers’ power off between Nov. 15 and April 15 without express permission from the Public Utilities Commission.