Central Maine Power has jumped the shark.

While Mainers deal with affordability issues concerning their utilities, CMP decides to ask the Public Utilities Commission for up to 30 percent in rate increases over the next three years. Who knows how much after that?

While admitting they have neglected the infrastructure for decades through “insufficient funding,” they ask customers to foot the bill for tens of thousands of old poles to be replaced. While providing worst-in-the-nation service reliability, they want you and me to pay more. While their parent companies post record profits, they ask you to pay for their pole replacements. Meanwhile, they spend millions of dollars on annoying ads. Incomprehensible.

This latest move shows the tone-deaf company is out of touch with its customer base. We hired CMP to maintain the grid that it so proudly touts as theirs. With many Mainers saying enough is enough, there is a petition circulating for a referendum to take over the grid and replace it with a customer-owned, customer-driven, consumer-owned utility.

Some question the unknown, but what we do know from past and present experience is that to continue with CMP means more power failures and higher prices automatically. If you haven’t had a chance, please sign the petition for a referendum to create a consumer-owned utility and send CMP back to Spain, where they belong.

Deke Sawyer
Jackman