'It's price gouging:' Mainers shocked by drastic increases to energy bills
WINDHAM (WGME)-- In just over a year, the standard offer electricity rate has tripled in Maine, going from $0.06 to $0.18 per kilowatt hour.
Electricity Maine customers, like Scott Hoffses, pay even more, over twice the standard rate.
"It's price gouging. There's no question," Hoffses said.
Hoffses lives at his Windham home with his spouse and in-laws. Their December CMP bill was $561, a bit higher than normal. Their January bill was $1,201, more than twice what he paid in December.
"And there was no spike in the usage," Hoffses said.
He found the explanation on the third page of his bill. His provider, Electricity Maine, raised its rates from $0.18 cents to nearly $0.40 per kilowatt hour.
"There should at least be a cap on what they can increase to, but there isn't. There's nothing out there to protect the consumer," Hoffses said.
"Our office is being overwhelmed with calls," Maine Public Advocate Bill Harwood said. "People are upset, angry, frustrated. 'How did this happen? What can we do about it?'"
Harwood wants to scrap the current process for deciding electricity vendors.
He says the standard offer rate should come from a competitive bid process.
"What we're recommending is something called a laddering approach, or stabilizing, where we have three-year contracts or multi-year contracts," Harwood said. "And it stabilizes the price."
Across Maine, families and businesses are now paying a lot more for electricity. Many are shocked over how much their bill has gone up.
"In the last two years, we've seen our energy costs going up 130-some odd percent. Just don't see an end to it," Mike Pasquini, who opts for the standard rate, said.
He says even with the standard offer, he's now paying over twice what he used to pay.
"We're keeping the thermostats low. And we've done everything we're supposed to do. We changed out our light bulbs. We got electric thermostats. I put a heat pump in, in the spring. And we're not seeing any savings," Pasquini said.
The public advocate says New England generates half its electricity by burning natural gas and says the war in Ukraine has upended the natural gas market.
CBS13 reached out to the parent company of Electricity Maine, but we did not hear back. Hoffses was able to switch to the standard offer, but he's still stuck with a $1,200 bill. He says others are stuck in an Electricity Maine contract.
"When you get increases like this, it does make it impossible to pay," Hoffses said.
CMP does offer other options that could save you money, but only if you use a lot of electricity.
You can click on any of the links below to find out more about those plans and programs to help you pay your bill: