Actions: 1) Review the elements of your electric bill

                2) Set up “My Account” with CMP

                3) Learn about the Electric Technology Rate

As we increase the electrification of our homes, understanding  your electric bill becomes more important. Now this task does not exactly kindle our passions, but a little knowledge here can go a long way in demystifying an opaque billing system. 

Our electric bills are complicated. First, they include a charge for the production of electricity (“Energy” charge). Since the year 2000,  Maine has been a deregulated state. As such, utilities like CMP are prohibited from owning power plants, solar farms, etc. that produce electricity. Instead there are 3rd party “Suppliers” of electricity (“Energy”). Here you have a choice. You may choose the Standard Offer, the default option, or you may choose a different supplier, termed a Competitive Energy Provider (CEP). Now why would you decide to use a CEP rather than the Standard Offer? Perhaps you’d find a better rate with a CEP. Or there may be greener electricity choices with a CEP.  To access this information go to maine.gov/SupplyRates. 

You will find the Energy Charge on the third or fourth page of your electric bill in blue print. This is the second of the two components of the bill. 

The 1st part of your bill is the “Delivery” charge, found on page 2. Here is CMP’s charge for transmitting the electricity to your home and includes the grid with its transmission lines and substations as well as the local power lines and transformers bringing power to your home. Also included here are charges out of CMP’s control:  the public policy charges (around 5% of the total bill) enacted by the Legislature such as solar subsidies and money to the Efficiency Maine Trust.  

So let’s take a look at your bill. On page one is the “Account Summary” which shows the totals for the CMP Delivery charge and the electricity Supply (Energy) charge, called the non-CMP Supplier.  There is also a chart with your energy usage which is expressed in kilowatt hours (kWh), both daily average and monthly for the last three years.  

As mentioned above, page 2 has the Delivery Charge. This has 2 components. There is a base charge (presently $26.60), billed to everyone with a CMP account, regardless of usage. There is then a second part of the Delivery Charge for the kWh usage above 50kWh determined by multiplying  kWh X  Delivery rate (presently nearly 11 cents / kWh).  The sum of these two items is the Delivery charge found on page 1. 

On Page 3 or 4 is the Supplier charge (Energy Charge). Here again we have the kWh X rate for energy usage. This rate may be volatile depending on the status of the energy market. (I had a CEP that tripled my rate in six months without any notice). Paying attention to that rate is important if you don’t use the Standard Offer where the rate is stable for a year. 

There is an added item for those of us who get all or part of our energy from solar, either by residential solar or through a Community Solar program. After “Your Meter Details” there is a category called “Your Generation Details”. Included here is: 

• Your energy usage
•  How much electricity your solar produced in the designated time period
• Your “Banked Generation”. This refers to the excess power you have produced and not consumed over the last 12 months. This electricity is available for those months where your usage exceeds your electricity production from your solar farm or solar panels at your home. 
• “Unused Expired Credits” refers to Banked Generation credits that were not used w/in 12 months and hence expired. 

There is additional material on the CMP website (https://www.cmpco.com) entitled “Understanding Your Bill”. This is the first item you see when you access their website, suggesting that confusion over one’s electric bill is extremely common.

While on that website tap the “Sign in/ Register” tab. Here you can create your “My Account” page. Information on billing and conserving electricity can be found here.

One final item. CMP has created a special rate category for residents that are high users of electricity. This is called the Electric Technology Rate. However, it would appear that CMP really does not want customers to know about this special rate as it is hard to find. This special rate is definitely worth considering if you use more than 800 kWh/month. You can find info on this rate by 1) go to the CMP website  2) click on the “Understanding Your Bill” tab (see above)  3) scroll all the way down to see “Electric Technology Rate” under “Additional Resources”.  Worth the effort. 

Now who was it that said your electric bill was a dull topic??