Philip L. Bartlett II

The new "standard offer" supply rates for residential and commercial customers of CMP and Versant were set through a competitive bid process conducted by the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

The statewide area code will be in service until at least the first quarter of 2050, according to the latest projection.

A monthly increase for residential customers of nearly $5 reflects the utility's need to cover costs incurred by extreme storm cleanup and legislative mandates.

Code conservation strategies include reduced historical and projected demand for new numbers.

Phil Bartlett has chaired the Maine Public Utilities Commission since 2019.

Farmers are increasingly working with solar developers to convert agricultural acreage to power arrays. But there's a growing worry that Maine is losing critical farmland.

Maine's fast-growing clean energy economy demands a trained workforce, and programs statewide are responding.

The New York contractor chosen to build a 160-mile transmission line for the project wanted to change its pricing, prompting the Public Utilities Commission to instead terminate the deal.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has been monitoring the status of the area code closely for several years. At one time, it was predicted that phone numbers with the distinctive digits would be exhausted by 2025.

Previously thought to be exhausted by the first quarter of 2027, Maine's iconic 207 area code is now expected to reach that point by the second quarter of 2029.