Electricity rates to increase for small business
Residential and small business customers in the Central Maine Power Co. and Emera Maine service areas could see a more than 10% increase in their standard offer electricity prices.
The Bangor Daily News reported the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved the increase for CMP’s customers Tuesday and Emera’s Wednesday. The companies handle the delivery and transmission of electricity, but not its supply or generation. The standard offer rates, based on a three-year average of the cost of electricity, will be nearly 7.6 cents per kilowatt-hour for customers of Emera Maine, formerly Bangor Hydro Electric Co. That’s around 13.2% higher than last year’s price, the paper reported. For CMP customers, the new standard offer rate will rise 10.8% to 7.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 6.8 cents per kilowatt-hour last year. The new prices are scheduled to go into effect March 1.
Thomas Welch, chairman of the PUC, said the increase is largely due to the rising wholesale price of natural gas, which generated more than half of the region’s electricity in 2011. Welch said that the lack of pipeline capacity into New England is partly responsible for the higher prices.
In early December, governors from all six New England states agreed to cooperate to expand and improve the region’s natural gas and electricity infrastructures.
Editor's note: This story was corrected from an earlier version.
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