Maine Opens Investigation Into CMP Billing Issues, Complaints
March 02,2018
The Maine PUC yesterday formally initiated a summary investigation into Central Maine Power Company (CMP or Company) metering, billing and customer communications issues which have arisen over the past several months and which have been the subject of numerous complaints to the Commission’s Consumer Assistance and Safety Division (CASD).
The PUC said that, in late October 2017, CMP went operational with its new Customer Information System (CIS) billing program. During the past two months, the CASD has received approximately 380 complaints from CMP customers, most of which related to high bills and possible billing errors. In addition, a number of these customers have reported difficulty, or a complete inability, to contact CMP to discuss their billing issues. While the CASD has been able to resolve many of the complaints which have been filed to date, the Commission finds that additional information is needed in order to determine and understand both the existence of any metering, billing and customer communication problems affecting CMP’s ability to provide service to its customers and the source of such problems.
Issues to be considered, among others, include:
• Are CMP’s meters accurately reading customer usage?
• Are CMP’s AMI meters accurately communicating with CMP’s new CIS system?
• Are CMP’s bills accurately reflecting usage?
• Are CMP’s bills utilizing the correct rates?
• Are CMP’s bills accurately calculating the total bill?