Comments
Guygan OP t1_j1dnbhw wrote
> The Kennebunk community is incredibly lucky to have the dedicated service provided by KLP.
Boy, are we.
The rates are half of what CMP customers pay as well.
DiscussionStatus4939 t1_j1dnyzz wrote
Love having KLP!
Guygan OP t1_j1do94t wrote
Hello, neighbor!!!
Taliesia t1_j1dqx1j wrote
I have cmp that would take 2 days just to get an assessment.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1dscnd wrote
Everyone remember to please go vote in '23 for the Our Power ballot initiative that will turn CMP into a statewide KLP!
Blue_Eyed_ME t1_j1dsoxv wrote
Nice!
Disastrous_Plan2991 t1_j1du6ow wrote
as good as Ukrainian power companies !
[deleted] t1_j1du8mb wrote
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SnooDoubts5781 t1_j1dusha wrote
It's a Christmas miracle!
Guygan OP t1_j1dv92c wrote
I’m sorry what?
DiscussionStatus4939 t1_j1dvf9b wrote
Hey there!
Straight_Ad_921 t1_j1dw7g5 wrote
Awesome!! We have KLP too + so thankful
Guygan OP t1_j1dwgig wrote
Faendol t1_j1dwzlu wrote
Would that not just cause the same issue with klp eventually. Can we not just open both up to sell to the state?
swintec t1_j1dxzke wrote
KLP also only has 6000 residential customers in a populated area of the state versus the over half a million CMP has scattered around from populated areas to east middle of no where.
If / when my town has an outage CMPs fix brings back online almost as many residential users as KLP has in their entire area.
Trying to compare the two or insinuate one should be more like the other is silly.
Guygan OP t1_j1dyc5m wrote
> Trying to compare the two
I’m not. I just think it’s awesome.
> insinuate one should be more like the other is silly.
Why is it silly? Why shouldn’t people expect more from CMP?
RuinTrajectory t1_j1dzjpj wrote
Scale and logistics. If people think state owned power would have better response times without an increase in labor cost, essentially getting something from nothing, they are using magical thinking. Not saying you can't want better from CMP or large scale power distribution in general, but you do indeed get what you pay for.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1e1z5h wrote
I'm not sure I understand your question.
KLP is a consumer-owned utility, so they have no profit motive and the consumers can vote out the board of directors if they do a shite job. And the BoD are mostly local residents, who don't want their power to be unreliable and expensive, so they have a whole lot more incentive to not suck at their jobs than a bunch of Spanish millionaires basking in the Azores (on the yachts we bought them with our absurdly high bills) while we all shiver in the dark.
mouldyrumble t1_j1e3m6i wrote
tHaTs SoCiALiSm
… it is socialism. And it works.
SnuggLife t1_j1e4mma wrote
Agreed we lucked out
indyaj t1_j1e5yo8 wrote
envy
CMP is currently "Assessing" my power outage. It takes them a couple hours just to get here on a clear day when we're the only ones with an outage. So...
[deleted] t1_j1e62h4 wrote
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Ironbird207 t1_j1e6bcn wrote
Versant will tell you it's not their pole and leave it unpowered while you have no heat.
chronosaurus88 t1_j1e6umd wrote
Take the profit motive out and invest it in labor and burying lines as opposed to Iberdrolas bloated executives and shareholders.
Guygan OP t1_j1e7dfj wrote
Haters gonna hate.
RuinTrajectory t1_j1e7ydl wrote
Exchange profit motive for bureaucracy and debt. I can't speak to how efficient the state is, but I was a federal employee for several years and the amount of inefficiency, bloat, and useless personnel that were basically impossible to fire was mindblowing.
13.5 billion is the number I've seen floated around. MPUC still sets the standard offer rates, we potentially save on distribution costs and potentially pay a higher tax burden as a result of budgeting in payment for the infrastructure. I see a lot of room for unintended consequences. I also see no reason there would be a positive change in reliability or response times without increasing the labor pool involved.
who-really-cares t1_j1e841n wrote
13c vs 23c/ kwh. That sounds nice….
Cab8675 t1_j1e937t wrote
Not saying that being in a more affluent area helps or anything...
Glad you got your power back, but your community as a whole has a lot more opportunity and privilege than the rest of the state.
Hoping we can all have this opportunity soon!
monsterscallinghome t1_j1ebttx wrote
Well, how else did you think CMP was going to make up the $300+ per customer that they spent on pro-corridor ads? YouTube ads don't buy themselves, and no one the c-suite is giving up a yacht for your grandma's oxygen machine.
Gunnersandgreen t1_j1ec3zt wrote
Especially since they're sitting happily across the pond in Spain
Gunnersandgreen t1_j1ec7uk wrote
Just lost power for 4 days from last weekend. Some people still aren't back from that.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1ecl4e wrote
Exactly. Bring the governance of our utilities home to our communities, and take the profit motive right the fuck out of anything necessary for survival.
indyaj t1_j1efbsw wrote
I'm so sorry. Are you in western Maine? I was watching oxford county outages after the last storm. It took so long, too long, to get power back on. There has to be a better way.
Bearclaw7309 t1_j1eiici wrote
Lol ran there today
Guygan OP t1_j1ejqjv wrote
Cross-Fit?
[deleted] t1_j1ek7yq wrote
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Bearclaw7309 t1_j1ek9ci wrote
Ew no 5k stuff
thesilversverker t1_j1eol3t wrote
Half? Assume you mean delivery charge, not supply right?
Faendol t1_j1eowq7 wrote
That's even better than I thought, admittedly I wasn't directly familiar with KLP I assumed it was a local privately owned utility. That's awesome I'd love to see that at a state level.
Guygan OP t1_j1eq8y6 wrote
Nope. Supply as well I think.
thesilversverker t1_j1eqovn wrote
Yea - Im wondering why their supply rate is so low ($.06/kwH) - it looks like all the small orgs that negotiate their own supply pay half as much as CMP & Versa - and it's the state that sets their supply rate. Maybe the utility-owned interest in the solar farm?
If CMP could buy power that cheap, it would be $.16 vs $.13 per kwH, still better but much closer.
South_Dot4732 t1_j1eullv wrote
liluyvene t1_j1eutmd wrote
I live on a tiny dead end road with 6 houses. They don’t give a fuck. The entire town was back on and we went over 53 hours last week without power because CMP doesn’t give a shit about small roads.
Tankbean t1_j1f0wgz wrote
Why upgrade our 1960s infrastructure. It works so well. /s
Just an article today that people can't grid tie their solar because it would overload the grid. WTF year do we live in? I see this being an issue in a really sunny populated state, but Maine's has the population of a decent sized city and we're not exactly getting 12 hours of direct sunlight everyday.
Sitting here with a generator running the pellet stove and fridge. They'll be "assessing" the outage until tomorrow. Greedy corporate fucks. Fuck CMP.
We should all install wood stoves and take CMP to small claims court to pay for them as they wouldn't be needed if their grid wasn't utter shit.
Mr-_-Soandso t1_j1f1krd wrote
In Eliot this summer the power went out in the evening during a storm. Next day was beautiful and sunny. I got home from work in the evening and still no power. This was right off 236, not off down some dirt road. Everywhere else was already back online, but it took until the following day to restore power. It seemed so absurd considering how nice the weather was. I was just happy it wasn't on my girlfriends work from home days, cause she would have been very grumpy.
Tankbean t1_j1f1pao wrote
For those of you that haven't lived outside of Maine, I think you'll find this thread enlightening:
As someone from the Midwest, I never worried about long term power outages before moving here. We don't have hurricanes, other states have forest, other states are rural, and yet we have the second least reliable power grid in the country, barely behind West Virginia. It is completely unacceptable how much we pay for the shitty service we receive. I don't give a shit if a state run power company may cost more. I'm sick of a bunch of wealthy fucks profiting off of our inconvenience. Fuck CMP.
6byfour t1_j1f2o73 wrote
CMP May suck at a lot of things, but their SAIDI scores are favorable compared to other rural utilities in heavily forested areas.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1f3vdd wrote
Well, it's on the ballot next November so don't forget to vote! It's an off-year election so turnout will likely be extremely low and just a few votes could be the difference of $0.20/kwh on all of our bills.
justadumbwelder1 t1_j1f4iry wrote
Y'all fancy people and your high falutin' ways!
[deleted] t1_j1f5e6d wrote
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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_j1f6hvf wrote
CMP has been all over Yarmouth and North Yarmouth areas.
Rather than wait for the storm to pass, it seems like they’re just out trying to get things cleaned up as fast as possible.
I reported a tree that fell into a pole, knocked the cross arm off. Within 45 minutes a crew had the tree cut off and put a new cross arm up.
Gunnersandgreen t1_j1f85a7 wrote
Yea, we sure took the brunt of the last one
DidDunMegasploded t1_j1f8t9t wrote
They'll be "assessing" it for as long as you and I stay alive, bub.
hrocson t1_j1fgo13 wrote
We can vote in 2023 to replace CMP with a consumer owned power company. The required amount of signatures has been accepted by the state.
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Creation_of_Pine_Tree_Power_Company_Initiative_(2023)
hrocson t1_j1fgysg wrote
We can vote in 2023 to replace CMP with a consumer owned power company. The required amount of signatures has been accepted by the state.
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Creation_of_Pine_Tree_Power_Company_Initiative_(2023)
ecco-domenica t1_j1fhwet wrote
Houlton is not especially privileged and definitely not affluent and they have community owned power. Agree we should all have it. It's achievable.
NotARobotDefACyborg t1_j1fiwby wrote
Wish Unitil was that quick. But we've only been out for less than an hour. Fingers crossed we're back on before I have to go back out later. 🤞🤞🤞🤞
ecco-domenica t1_j1fj3sp wrote
>state owned power
you mean consumer owned power. It won't be owned or run by the state. It will be owned by the consumers. Will probaly be run by the same people working for it now. And the profits won't be going to Spain.
camXmac t1_j1fmdmx wrote
That’s awesome. Thankful for service like this!
Cartoonlad t1_j1fohhp wrote
My favorite part is if the power goes out, it comes back on that day.
yearofplenty t1_j1fq1z8 wrote
Really pretty lame that the Port is on CMP.
Guygan OP t1_j1fqp2q wrote
They can afford it.
indyaj t1_j1fs85n wrote
And they wonder why everyone hates them.
indyaj t1_j1ft0zw wrote
I live on a state route and get outages multiple times a week. Winter is usually my best time for continuous power. One week last spring/summer my power went out 6 times in one week. Twice in one day. Clear blue sky, no wind.
indyaj t1_j1ft6ly wrote
One could argue they don't give a shit about the main roads either but I totally hear you.
IronThumbs t1_j1ftzih wrote
The state has nothing to do with consumer-owned utility.
intent107135048 t1_j1fwp8j wrote
TBF the anti-corridor electric suppliers also need to recoup their costs.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1fx3c6 wrote
True, but they didn't spend nearly as much. IIRC from the article I read months ago, the pro side spent something not far off of an order of magnitude more than the antis. Definitely tracks with the relative ad frequency I saw.
heklakatla t1_j1fxwjw wrote
Bake them a pie... The boys are working so you and others can enjoy their holidays.
Guygan OP t1_j1fy5rd wrote
We’re gonna drop something off at their offices next week once things calm down 🙏🏻
Substantial-Spare501 t1_j1fz7c5 wrote
That’s amazing. Western Maine has been suffering. I see all of Lovell with 1300 customers is out. 1/2 of Denmark, all of Sweden, 1/2 Of Paris and most of these were out during the last storm for multiple days.
Lawlcat t1_j1fzdty wrote
I'm on a gravel back road with 4 houses. Only 2 full time residents, the other 2 don't live here except for hunting/fishing. The mail truck doesn't even come up here. Town of 400 or so. I lost power around 3:30, reported it immediately, was fixed by 7:30. It's not always that they don't care about small roads
cepheus42 t1_j1g7xm2 wrote
Person who uses highway system cringes at the thought of things being run as non-profits for the benefit of the public good rather than the wealth of rich investors. Film at 11:00.
cepheus42 t1_j1g8ewh wrote
> Exchange profit motive for bureaucracy and debt
No. Exchange profit motive AND bureaucracy AND debt. All three of those are already provided by CMP, as any nitwit could tell you.
ILuhMeSomeBlackWomen t1_j1g97vg wrote
You love to see it. Good job KLP ppl. 🍻
TarantinoFan23 t1_j1gavur wrote
Not really surprised in a town where the cheapest house is 500k.
mrguyorama t1_j1gdv69 wrote
Just like the recent minimum wage for servers vote we had in portland. The "pro" camp was a grassroots effort that spent like a few tens of thousands on campaigning, while the "anti" campaign was primarily an out of state restaurant lobbying group that spent MILLIONS on their campaign, including that "vote no on everything, enough is enough" campaign that was entirely put together by a restaurant lobbying group. Neat.
monsterscallinghome t1_j1gey1x wrote
As a restaurant owner-operator, that drove me nuts. My staff are in the top 10% of nationwide earners as servers according to the NLRB, and they deserve more - but I already pay as much above the minimum as i can and stay open. These kinds of industry-wide changes have to be mandated, at least at first, or the people who want to do it right will be driven out of business by those willing to exploit their staffs before the culture can change enough. I grew up on WA, where there hasn't been a subminimum wage for tipped employees since the 70's, and people still tip. And tip well. Front-of-house labor is such a small percentage of overall costs on this fucking place, anyone saying it's going to break them is either lying to you or riding the edge of bankruptcy as it is, and if it's not labor it'll be the cost of chicken that drives them under. Food costs have risen during the pandemic by nearly twice what I'd be paying without the subminum wage, if I can take the one I can take the other - and I'd rather see the increases in my prices go to my staff instead of Sysco, cause they're sure AF not passing it along to the drivers, pickers, or farmers.
bump909 t1_j1ght24 wrote
And some fortunate parts of Wells!
ecco-domenica t1_j1gox8d wrote
But shouldn't scale and logistics work just the opposite way? You've got a small company that charges less and is getting more done with fewer resources than a large company that is charging more to accomplish less with more resources.
GuppyGB t1_j1gwc5w wrote
Just remember, it's too expensive to bury the powerlines so instead of saving and investing for that, they figured commercials, mail leaflets, donations, and funding political campaigns was better use of their customers' money. Gotta love legal monopolies. Spectrum is just as bad. The government needs to open the state up for competition. The roads are already shit I don't care if you need to tear them up to lay some cable if it's going to prevent outages. Wanna know how things get cheaper? You compete and use r&d to figure it out. It's not rocket science. Never had any issues with my neighborhood underground power. Nothing to fix. But the power pole a mile down the road? Gets fucked by a tree branch every wind storm. Same pole. Every storm.
Mannymarlo t1_j1h2db6 wrote
Go away
Mannymarlo t1_j1h2g25 wrote
Just like we could vote to atop the corridor ?
Mannymarlo t1_j1h2imk wrote
No they don’t give a fk your an anomaly
[deleted] t1_j1hpusa wrote
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guethlema t1_j1hzyf4 wrote
A lot of people comparing Kennebunk and Kennebunkport to the rest of the state without factoring in lack of highway, interior weather differences, and the whole "density of customers to trees destroying lines ratio" completely missing the point of why power restoration is difficult for most of the state.
CMP has major problems which I'm hopeful state conversation can help solve; and KLPD is an apples to anchovies comparison of two types of electric utility that I hope isn't the basis of expectation for placing local control of a statewide utility. You're still gonna be without power for 4 days in the sticks after a storm like this regardless of who is in charge, unless they put 12x on your electric rates to put the wires underground.
guethlema t1_j1igp6q wrote
You're getting downvoted because people hate CMP, not because you're wrong.
CMP has fucked up, and also the time to repair is a direct function of "Trees * service area / total customers". That variable doesn't change if it's run as a co-op.
And if it's run as a co-op, reminder that Paul LePage would have been able to appoint people to run (gut) the company over the last decade.
And before we start stomping our feet about hiring more electric workers to do the work, ask anyone in construction if they have enough electricians to complete their job.
guethlema t1_j1ih52k wrote
Lmao I have 3 jobs delayed right now because there are no electricians.
This is a result of unions and apprentice programs getting gutted in the years following Reagan, not CMP specific.
The cost of putting lines underground is literally order of magnitude 10x the cost of maintaining overhead for, what, 2-5 days a year without power for rural people?
If CMP became public, doubled their staff, and burried lines we would have the most expensive utility in the country for the benefit of a handful of days a year off service.
AppointmentNo3240 t1_j1dlzcu wrote
The Kennebunk community is incredibly lucky to have the dedicated service provided by KLP. Bills were always low, it was reliable, and response times were good. I appreciate the line workers at CMP, but the reliability is garbage.