Sales to Central Maine Power Co.’s industrial customers plummeted 14% during the first quarter of the year, as business closings and layoffs multiplied across the state.
The utility, Maine’s largest, has seen annual sales growth of 1% to 3% since 2000, but sales dropped 2% in 2008, the Portland Press Herald reported. CMP said its overall sales for the first three months of this year are down, but declined to release a figure. The numbers exclude the paper industry, which generates some of its own power. CMP expected flat or weaker sales this year, but didn’t anticipate the double-digit drop in industrial sales, the paper reported.
The utility also saw a 2% drop last quarter in the commercial sector.
