PUC Letter To CMP CEO Re: Letter Sent To Customers

STATE OF MAINE
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
Mark A. Vannoy Harry Lanphear

CHAIRMAN ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR
R. Bruce Williamson
Randall D. Davis
COMMISSIONERS
February 6, 2019
Via Email
Mr. Douglas Herling, President and CEO
Central Maine Power Company
83 Edison Drive
Augusta, Maine 04430
Dear Mr. Herling:
I have reviewed your recent letter sent to Central Maine Power Company (CMP or
Company) customers regarding the Liberty Audit and the challenges the Company has faced
after the implementation of SmartCare. I appreciate your recognition of the existence and
seriousness of the Company’s customer service problems. However, over recent months, I
have grown increasingly concerned about: 1) the number of new and existing customers that
are not receiving monthly bills; 2) Arrearage Management Program (AMP) participants not
being properly referred to the Efficiency Maine Trust (EMT); as well as 3) the Company’s
continued slow response to customer complaints. While the breadth of the Company’s billing
and customer relations problems may extend beyond these three issues, the Company should
be able to address these three issues immediately.
First, the Company has failed to issue bills to thousands of new and existing customers
since SmartCare’s implementation on November 1, 2017, and apparently has not entered
thousands of new customers into the Company’s customer information system. This failure to
issue monthly bills to your customers is a direct violation of the Commission’s rules.
Commission Rule Chapter 815, § 8(A) states: “A utility shall bill on a regular recurring basis and
must offer at least one monthly billing option.” (emphasis added). Similarly, Chapter 815, § 8(L)
states: “A utility must obtain an actual meter reading every month …,” with some rare and
specific exceptions (emphasis added). Further, there was a significant increase in the number
of customers not receiving a bill in December 2018. After a full year of working with the new
SmartCare system, the number of customers not receiving bills should be decreasing, not
increasing.
Second, CMP has not been referring AMP participants to the EMT as required by
Commission rules. Section 4(F) of Chapter 317 requires utilities “…to provide the Standard
Intake Form or the information required by the form to the EMT by a mutually agreed upon
method so that the EMT may complete the [Electricity] Usage Assessment upon the enrollment
of an Eligible Customer, as well as the analysis following the implementation of recommended
energy savings measures.” It is my understanding based on discussions with the EMT that
CMP has not been providing EMT with the Standard Intake Form for AMP enrollees since
November 1, 2017 and currently has approximately 300 backlogged forms waiting to be
processed. Further, some of these forms are for participants that enrolled in the AMP a year or
more ago. This means that the vast majority of AMP participants that enrolled after November
LOCATION: 101 Second Street, Hallowell, ME 04347 MAIL: 18 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0018
PHONE: (207) 287-3831 (VOICE) TTY: 711 FAX: (207) 287-1039

Letter to Douglas Herling
February 6, 2019
Page 2
1, 2017 have not received an Electricity Usage Assessment from the EMT and consequently
have not benefitted from any of the programs offered by the EMT.
Third, the time it has taken the Company to address customer complaints, or contact
customers who have complained, is clearly insufficient. As you are aware, CMP created a
specialized team (Team) in February 2018 to resolve customer complaints of high usage
referred by the Commission’s Consumer Assistance and Safety Division (CASD). Initially,
CMP agreed that the Team would contact each customer within two business days of the
referral by the CASD. Due to the large number of customers being referred, the contact period
was extended to two weeks at CMP’s request. Since the inception of the Team, CMP has not
contacted customers within the agreed-upon two-week period. In my September 21, 2018 letter
to you, I expressed concern regarding the Team’s slow response to customer complaints and
the resulting large backlog. In your October 5, 2018 response, you stated that the Company
had increased resources dedicated to this effort and would scale the resources flexibly going
forward to meet the fluctuating volume of inquiries referred. Despite this assurance, there has
not been an obvious improvement in the Team’s performance. As of today, information
provided by CMP indicates that the Team has failed to reach and resolve over 1,000
customers referred to it by the CASD. Under section 13(B) of Chapter 815 of the Commission’s
rules, CMP is required, among other things, to have an adequate number of properly trained
employees available to resolve disputes with applicants and customers. Further, section 13(D)
of Chapter 815 requires CMP to investigate a customer or applicant’s dispute and to attempt in
good faith to resolve the dispute.
As you are aware, under Title 35-A of the Maine Revised Statutes, the Commission
may take certain actions, including imposing sanctions, when a utility is in violation of a
Commission statute, order, or rule. Among these actions are the following, which are not
exhaustive:
A. The ability to impose administrative penalties of up to $500,000 for any related

series of events that are in violation of law or Commission rule or order. 35-A
M.R.S. § 1508-A(1)(A)–(B).
B. The ability to hold a utility in contempt for “fail[ure] to comply with an order,
decision, rule, direction, demand or requirement of the commission or of a
commissioner …” 35-A M.R.S. § 1502.
C. The ability to “require disgorgement of profits or revenues realized as a result of

a violation” of Title 35-A or Commission rule or order. 35-A M.R.S.
§ 1508-A(1)(D).
I strongly urge CMP to take action, without any further delay, to remedy the problems of
(1) new and existing customers not receiving bills, (2) AMP participants not being properly
referred to the EMT, and (3) customer complaints not being resolved in a timely manner.
Failure to resolve these issues in an expeditious manner may result in the Commission taking
enforcement action under one or more of the statutory provisions cited above. I believe that
such action would not preclude any party or the Commission Staff from recommending
remedies in the current rate investigation and would be independent of any such remedies
ultimately ordered by the Commission in that case.
Letter to Douglas Herling
February 6, 2019
Page 3
Sincerely,
______________________
Derek D. Davidson, Director

Consumer Assistance and Safety Division
cc: Robert Kump, President and CEO, Avangrid Networks

Richard Hevey, Senior Counsel, Avangrid
Kenneth Farber, Senior Counsel, Avangrid
Notification List in Docket No. 2018-00194
Notification List in Docket No. 2019-00015

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STATE OF MAINE

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

Mark A. Vannoy Harry Lanphear

Dear Mr. Herling:

PHONE: (207) 287-3831 (VOICE) TTY: 711 FAX: (207) 287-1039

A. The ability to impose administrative penalties of up to $500,000 for any related

C. The ability to “require disgorgement of profits or revenues realized as a result of

Derek D. Davidson, Director

cc: Robert Kump, President and CEO, Avangrid Networks

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