Central Maine Power Co. customers began paying 7% more in their monthly bills Jan. 1 to help fund $3.3 billion of upgrades to transmission lines, poles and other equipment in New England. Versant Power ratepayers can also expect increases, though smaller, later this year.
Federal regulators are apportioning about $280 million of the region’s costs to Maine’s two major utilities, with the remainder assigned to utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The costs are divided based on load, or how much electricity each service area uses.
Consumer advocates in the region have criticized the practice of assigning transmission costs to ratepayers, saying upgrades proposed by utilities are often unnecessary, insufficiently regulated and enhance the value of assets for shareholders at the expense of customers.
“The ratepayers are the only wallets in the room,” said Donald M. Kreis, New Hampshire’s consumer advocate who says poles, wires and other components of transmission are overbuilt.
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As an example, one energy company proposed rebuilding a 49-mile transmission line in New Hampshire for $384 million, when less than 8% of it needed to be replaced, according to consumer advocates.
Versant said transmission rates are set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “using a preset formula and cover needed investments” in local transmission and regional investments.
“Most of the transmission rate increase is due to Versant paying our share to support regional transmission projects as part of our ISO-New England membership,” it said in an emailed statement.
CMP spokesman Jon Breed said ratepayer-funded spending authorized by FERC “will help reduce outages and protect our system from the threats of extreme weather in Maine.” New England’s transmission is a nearly 9,000-mile system, he said.
How the money in its entirety will eventually be spent is unclear. Eversource Energy, the parent company of utilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, has plans for numerous projects, such as a partial line rebuild and other work totaling nearly $80 million in Connecticut, and a $7.4 million rebuild of a substation in Massachusetts.
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“We’re responsible for maintaining just under half of the regional transmission system in New England and are constantly working to upgrade and modernize the transmission system, making the electric grid more resilient to increasing extreme weather caused by climate change and improving reliability for customers across New England,” Eversource spokeswoman Jamie Ratliff said in an email.
A representative of National Grid, parent company of New England Power Co., which said its revenue requirement is $485.4 million this year, did not respond to an emailed request for information about its projects.
CMP customers who use an average of 550 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month are paying $149.83, up from $139.62 in 2024, according to the Maine Office of the Public Advocate. Versant customers in the Bangor Hydro District who use the same amount of power pay $155.80, up from $148.09, a 5.2% increase, the utility said. Customers in Versant’s Maine Public District in the northern reaches of the state pay $146.37, an increase from $144.35.
Utilities in New England say “revenue requirements” of $3.3 billion are needed for 2025, up more than 16% from last year, according to the New England Power Pool, or NEPOOL, an advisory group of utilities, consumer advocates, consumers and others.
Together, CMP and Versant account for 8.4% of the revenue needed in the region for the transmission upgrades, as identified by the utilities. In contrast, subsidiaries of Eversource Energy account for nearly 59%, or about $1.9 billion.
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Increased rates for consumers are not due solely to transmission costs. Utilities also are collecting more than $254 million, including interest, to compensate for previous under-collecting of revenue based on the difference between cost forecasts and actual costs last year.
Ratiliff said the rate change is “largely the result” of utilities recovering less of their 2023 transmission costs.
Still, the largest driver of higher rates that took effect Wednesday is significant construction by utilities and replacing older transmission equipment, Landry said.
“They figured out they can build stuff and send the bills and everyone has to pay them,” he said.
The transmission costs will overwhelm a slight decline in electricity bills approved by Maine regulators in November. A lower 2025 standard offer rate — the default supply price for most home and small-business customers who don’t buy electricity with competitive energy providers – reflects stable natural gas prices, the main driver of power generation in New England.
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Seth Berry, a former state legislator who chaired the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee and is critical of the performance of investor-owned utilities, said scrutiny by state regulators could uncover weaknesses in the argument for transmission upgrades and force utilities to scale back their plans.
The lure of profitability is difficult for utilities to resist and the result, he said, is “a race to a very expensive and overbuilt transmission network.”
Utilities should instead focus on repairing and upgrading “very creaky” distribution systems, he said. The networks of roadside power lines is most vulnerable to storms and potential damage that knocks out power.
The body of a missing Sedgwick woman was found a short distance from her residence Saturday morning, officials said.
Glenith Gray, 77, was reported missing from her home at 15 Parker Lane at about 3 a.m., according to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
The Maine Warden Service was called in at 6 a.m. to assist with the search, deploying five wardens and three K-9 units.
Cellphone tower data helped lead searchers to Gray’s body at about 9:45 a.m., a short distance from the residence, said Mark Latti, spokesperson for the Maine Warden Service.
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Her death was not considered suspicious and appeared to be weather-related, though the state medical examiner’s office was notified, which is standard in unattended deaths.
Gray had worked as a real estate agent and developer, as well as serving in the Maine State Legislature in the 1990s.
Rabbi Levi Wilansky is the director of Chabad of Maine.
Last week, an 88-year-old Army veteran named Ed Bambas went viral.
An Australian TikToker saw the elderly man standing behind a cash register, when Ed shared that he works eight hours a day, five days a week.
It’s not because Ed loves working retail, but because 13 years ago, he lost his pension and life insurance when General Motors went bankrupt. Around the same time, his wife fell gravely ill and he sold their home to pay her medical bills. Seven years ago, Ed’s wife passed away and he is still working full-time at a grocery store — just to survive.
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Within days, strangers who watched the video had set up a GoFundMe and raised more than $1.5 million to help this veteran retire with dignity.
Ed’s story shows the power that one person had to spark a major wave of kindness around the world. Through just one short video, a social media influencer unleashed immense generosity from people who just wanted to help a stranger.
This same dynamic is reflected in the menorah, the central symbol of the festival of Chanukah, coming up this year from December 14-22. For each night of the eight-day holiday, we light the menorah, gather with family and friends, and retell the story of the Macabbees.
On the first night, we light the menorah with just one candle. Each subsequent night of the holiday, we add another candle, until all eight lights are kindled on the last night. The second century sage Hillel learned a lesson from this order: that it’s not enough to just spread light. Rather, we must always be increasing in the light we share.
This can be done practically through acts of kindness in the community. To address darkness in its many manifestations — mental illness, poverty, homelessness or the myriad other issues that people in Maine are facing — we cannot just do one good deed and call it a day. Instead, we must begin with one small act of kindness, and then build off that to do more to help the community.
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That’s why this year, Chabad of Maine launched Kitchen of Kindness. It’s a non-denominational initiative, bringing together volunteers from across our community to prepare nutritious, high-quality Kosher meals for people facing food insecurity throughout Southern Maine. During this season, when so many gather with family, food support is critical for those struggling.
The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, once called America a malchut shel chesed — a nation of kindness. Despite the numerous challenges we face, that spirit lives on — especially in Maine. It lives in the stranger who helps you dig out your car after a storm. It lives in the recognition that we’re responsible for one another, especially during our dark winters when isolation can turn dangerous.
This Sunday, December 14, the first night of Chanukah, I invite people of all backgrounds to join us in front of Portland City Hall for a grand menorah lighting. Starting at 4:30 p.m., we’ll have live music, a Giant Gelt Drop, and delicious Chanukah treats. We will also be building a “Can-ora”—a menorah constructed entirely from donated canned goods, all of which will be distributed to people in need. Throughout the rest of Chanukah, Chabad of Maine will light menorahs across Southern Maine, including at the State Capitol.
My hope for this Chanukah is to inspire everyone to spread the light. Whether it’s donating to the “Can-Ora”, volunteering, raising money for a cause you believe in, or simply checking in on a neighbor who might be struggling, we all have a responsibility to increase in goodness and kindness. The story of Ed Bambas, and of the menorah, teaches us that even though the world faces challenges, our capacity to make a difference begins with one act of light.
The Grand Menorah Lighting takes place Sunday, December 14, at 4:30 p.m. in front of City Hall, followed by a community celebration at Portland High School’s Chestnut Street entrance. To learn more about the Kitchen of Kindness or to volunteer, visit ChabadOfMaine.com or email [email protected].
PORTLAND, Maine — Loons are on the mend in Maine, filling more of the state’s lakes and ponds with their haunting calls, although conservations say the birds aren’t out of the woods yet.
Maine is home to a few thousand of the distinctive black-and-white waterbirds — the East Coast’s largest loon population — and conservationists said efforts to protect them from threats helped grow the population. An annual count of common loons found more adults and chicks this year than last, Maine Audubon said this week.
The group said it estimated a population for the southern half of Maine of 3,174 adult loons and 568 chicks. Audubon bases its count on the southern portion of Maine because there are enough bird counters to get a reliable number. The count is more than twice the number when they started counting in 1983, and the count of adult adult loons has increased 13% from 10 years ago.
“We’re cautiously optimistic after seeing two years of growing chick numbers,” said Maine Audubon wildlife ecologist Tracy Hart. “But it will take several more years before we know if that is a real upward trend, or just two really good years.”
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Maine lawmakers have attempted to grow the population of the loons with bans on lead fishing tackle that the birds sometimes accidentally swallow. Laws that limit boat speeds have also helped because they prevent boat wakes from washing out nests, conservation groups say.
It’s still too early to know if Maine’s loons are on a sustainable path to recovery, and the success of the state’s breeding loons is critical to the population at large, Hart said. Maine has thousands more loons than the other New England states, with the other five states combining for about 1,000 adults. The state is home to one of the largest populations of loons in the U.S., which has about 27,000 breeding adults in total.
Minnesota has the most loons in the lower 48 states, with a fairly stable population of about 12,000 adults, but they are in decline in some parts of their range.
While loons are not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, they are considered threatened by some states, including New Hampshire and Michigan. The U.S. Forest Service also considers the common loon a sensitive species.
The birds migrate to the ocean in late fall and need a long runway to take off, meaning winter can be a treacherous time for the birds because they get trapped by ice in the lakes and ponds where they breed, said Barb Haney, executive director of Avian Haven, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Freedom, Maine.
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“We’re getting a lot of calls about loons that are iced in,” Haney said, adding that the center was tending to one such patient this week.
