Electricity rates to decrease in Maine, starting in March

HALLOWELL – Electricity rates are going down for residential and small commercial customers in Maine.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission said new standard offer prices will decrease about 8 percent for Central Maine Power Co. customers and more than 6 percent for Bangor Hydro Electric customers as of March 1. The total bill for electricity supply and distribution will fall about 4 percent for CMP customers and 3 percent for Bangor Hydro customers.

PUC Chairman Tom Welch said the price reductions will lower electricity costs in Maine by about $20 million next year.

Eastern Maine Medical plans $250 million modernization

BANGOR – The governing board of Eastern Maine Medical Center’s parent organization has approved a $250 million expansion project to modernize the hospital.

The project will update surgery, cardiac, and women’s and infants’ services and expand bed capacity from 350 to 411. The hospital’s operating rooms, built more than 35 years ago, will be updated to support modern technology.

Hospital CEO and President Deborah Carey Johnson said the project is critical to the future of health care in central and northern Maine because the hospital serves more than 40 percent of the state’s population as the only provider of many specialty medical services.

The hospital hopes to have financing lined up by the end of this year and begin work in April. The goal is to complete the project by 2017.

Handful of concerns sends Dow Jones down 121 points

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks fell Thursday, pushing indexes to lows not seen since late summer, as worries about the global economy and U.S. “fiscal cliff” displaced enthusiasm that came with upbeat economic reports.

“There are still international events going on that influence the markets,” said Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners in Chicago. He listed Greece, the European Union and China as among the issues driving investors.

The slide followed a strong selloff on Wednesday as investors considered the political landscape after an election that had President Obama re-elected and Congress still divided, with the “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in January unless lawmakers reach a deficit-reduction agreement.

“What was surprising was not that Obama won, but that there was very little change in the composition of Congress,” said Nolte. He said the continued partisan makeup in Washington has him putting the odds at better than even that “we do go off the cliff.”

But the scenario isn’t necessarily a dire one, since the new Congress to be installed in January “will have an opportunity to roll those back, said Nolte. Investors are looking to “see movement towards a middle ground,” he said.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 121.41 points Thursday, or 1 percent, to 12,811.32, its lowest close since late July.

Finishing at its lowest level since early August, the S&P 500 index shed 17.02 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,377.51. The Nasdaq composite lost 41.71 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,895.58, its lowest reading since late July.