Electricity Maine customers will get back 3 months of charges under PUC settlement
Energy provider Electricity Maine will have to refund about 20,000 customers and pay a $315,000 fine for what state regulators have called “unfair billing practices.”
The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a settlement Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into Electricity Maine's billing practices. The company was alleged to have switched its customers to variable rate contracts without the customers' consent.
“Electricity Maine customers were overcharged by millions of dollars compared with what they would have paid had they paid the standard offer price for electricity,” said William Harwood, the state's public advocate, in a news release.
Electricity Maine customers will receive refunds of up to three months of previously paid charges.
The state received more than 125 complaint calls and emails from Electricity Maine customers in four months between 2022 and 2023, according to the release.
In the complaint to the PUC, the Office of the Public Advocate found that Electricity Maine was charging some customers a rate that more than doubled the standard offer rate. The utility company tripled its prices without notifying customers, obtaining their consent to new contracts, or saying that their contracts had been extended.
“Given the company’s unsatisfactory practices in Maine over the last few years, it’s my fervent hope that this will remind them to respect our laws of fair trade," said Harwood.
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