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Nothing to fee but the fees themselves.

39 Comments

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I live in Maine and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say we hate CMP. Central Maine Power is the primary electric company in my area and if you want to start a bar fight? Loudly state how much you admire them.

Prices rise on what seems to be a daily basis and every time a wombat sneezes in Australia? Our power is knocked out.

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This does not endear the company to the natives and the fact that everyone’s bill will be going up by 1/3rd starting in February… guarantees I’m going to be one very angry native.

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Of course CMP has sent extremely polite letters to all their customers stating it’s not their fault, that they only deliver the power and we should be mad at the suppliers instead. But the last bill I received looked a lot like this…

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So as far as I’m concerned CMP can suck it.

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P.S. Just received my new bill. It went from $216 to $324. As predicted, I am not happy.

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39 thoughts on “Nothing to fee but the fees themselves.”

  1. I take it you can’t get a “fixed fee” plan. We get them for 5 years at a time here.

    As for the “suppliers” excuse, I know that America buys a lot of electricity from Canada, though maybe not in your area. The electricity we sell to the States is generally priced lower than what they charge Canadians for the exact same product. Why? Because, they tell us, you use more than we do! So you are the better customers. Who the hell are they kidding!

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    1. We have a fixed fee plan here, but the bill is still pretty steep. You can get a big tax credit for going solar, but the solar company told me I was going to have to cut down half of my trees. No dice.

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      1. I want to put solar panels on my roof, but I cannot afford them. The cost is prohibitive for anyone on a fixed income, or who makes slave-labour wages. The government talks like they care about the environment, “sometimes,” but if they won’t make green energy affordable by the “non-wealthy,” which is over 99% of the population, that’s all they are doing is talking. I tried to get help from a gov’t program here, but I had to pay for the panels and installation first, and they “might” reimburseme later, if I followed every step of a quite complicated procedure. I could not believe the roadblocks put in my way. IN EVERYONE’S WAYS! Greed is still king! Gov’t help is a myth…

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      3. The new thing here is solar farms. You buy into them and they erect panels on a community site, then sell power back to the grid. No tree cutting at your house but our farming neighbor did it and it was a huge outlay of cash.

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    2. No, there isn’t a fixed fee option. And the state has been battling that CMP corridor to Canada for years. They finally voted it down and everyone thinks this price increase is the payback.

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      1. Legal bills to pay? We all know who pays for any bill. Sorry to hear you don’t have fixed rate options. I take it CMP has a monopoly on selling electricity in Maine, or at least your part of it. Monopolies are never good, especially in a capitalist economy. It allows for no checks and balances.

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  4. Back in my old province, the electric company ran up a huge debt (while paying upper management millions, still) and then on every bill was a debt repayment fee….FFS!!!!! When I incur debt can I charge other people to pay it back for me??? Huh, can I????

    Deb

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  6. What the fuck!?!? And here I thought El Paso Electric (EPE) was giving us the equivalent of a financial wedgie. Your bill is much worse than the $72 I thought was outrageous. That’s what happens when there’s no competition….🙄😤

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      1. I’m sure, and you don’t even have refrigerated air. My son Putin solar panels at his new house and it cost him $26K (yeah not doing that when it’s just me and the cat in my house) and his electric bill is about $19 at times because he’s selling back power to the grid. But $26K? Yeah that’s a brand new used Ford F-150 if you ask me.

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      4. I know. I just can’t bring myself to spend that amount of money. Even with a $300 electric bill it would take over 7 years to break even. And by then they’d probably need to be replaced.

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  7. That really stinks and you have no choice, right? It’s not like you can call someone else.
    Laughing at the pic of Snoop.
    We have FPL. My Dad always called it Florida, Flash, and Flicker; in the summer it goes off and on all.the.time with the storms.

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    1. I believe there are two other delivery companies but the supplier is the same and that’s where the problem lies. I hate it, but we can afford it. What do people who can’t afford it do…?
      😰

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  9. I was sitting at the counter at Martha’s Diner in Ellsworth ME in 2018 enjoying being included in all conversations as though I were a local (great place/food/company!) When two seats opened to the left of me two gentleman sat down Locals to the left/right of me started discussing CMP…conversation in the whole diner got real loud real quick! Gentleman to the left of me said “you’re not contributing to the conversation…do you work there?” I said I’m not sure what is the safer answer at this point…I live in MA or I work there…but I’ll go with the truth…I live in MA and have no knowledge of CMP”…he clapped me on the back and said you are one of us…welcome to Martha’s!
    I love ME!!

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      1. Definitely! Martha is hysterical! She should be on stage but the customers are equally funny! And breakfast is so delicious!!

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  10. Hearing you, feeling you from Texas. Of course, we have all kinds of “choice” but that hasn’t worked out so well *cough February 2021* Still nothing has been done about the failed grid, just pointing fingers while those at the top make loads of money. I thought y’all had it better out there, but doesn’t seem like it…:(

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  11. We did ok, but so many people did not. I just think here in the US, all people should have access to stable electricity at a decent price. It is doable! But, I get silly ideas sometimes. I hope your family made it through alright. A few weeks ago, we had about 3 days of freezing weather, maybe more up in north Texas, and ERCOT assured everyone that the grid would not go down. It wasn’t reassuring at all!

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  12. It’s ridiculous that it will cost you and many so much more for electric. We’ve been told the real cost of February 2021 will start really affecting customers this coming fall. My guess is after the primaries in Nov. Our little co-op says it will take decades to pay off what it owes for those 5 days. Insane. I’m sorry y’all are dealing with price hikes, too!

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