In 1979, my wife and I started to renovate her family cottage in Poland. We striped the inside to the outside walls. We had new wiring done. As summer changed to winter, our electric bill went up each month. The January bill was more than double.

I called Central Maine Power and asked for someone to come check the meter. The CMP representative answered:

“Sir, we are into the winter season and it gets dark very early now. You use more electricity because your use of lights has increased. Your furnace runs much more with the colder weather. We also just finished the holiday season. Your holiday decorations, lights and such would add to this also.”

I asked her to please stop. I told her about the new wiring; that we heat with wood; we work out of town, leaving at five a.m., not getting home until six p.m., and go to bed at nine p.m. Last but not least, the hot water heater wasn’t hooked up yet.

Nothing she mentioned had any application to our concerns. I still wanted our meter checked.

The meter check was never done, but the February bill dropped by half and the March bill dropped by half again, yet the electric hot water heater was installed in January.

Kind of strange, I would say.

Presently CMP is planning a new transmission line through Maine. It will not reduce electricity bills.

I do not trust CMP and it shouldn’t be allowed to build that transmission line.

Fern Bosse, Norway

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