I am one of the half a million customers who will be affected by Central Maine Power’s proposed, unfair rate increase if the Public Utility Commission approves its proposal. I decided to make my voice heard about this by testifying before the commission at a public hearing on April 3.

I’m glad I did.

Many in our state live on a fixed income. CMP needs to take a long, hard look at what an increase will mean to people who have no place to turn as they struggle to make ends meet each month. One-third of Social Security beneficiaries in Maine who are 65 and older don’t have any other income. No savings, no pension, nothing. How do you absorb extra costs when you have no other resources? 

It is also disappointing that the commission chose to have only two hearings and both of them in the evening. Older people don’t tend to drive at night, and many of CMP’s most vulnerable customers live too far away from Portland and Hallowell, where the hearings took place, to be able to attend. They should have made the hearings more accessible to more people. 

CMP needs to remember that this issue is not about numbers. It is about people. I hope all CMP customers will contact the commission on their website at http://1.usa.gov/1hOILsq and tell them what they think about this proposal.

-Erica Magnus, Windham