Versant plans to request another rate hike for customers
By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff
Versant is asking for its third distribution rate hike in less than a year, but if approved it wouldn’t take effect until at least 2025.
In March, Versant Power will ask to increase its distribution revenue by $35.5 million a year, according to a notice of intent to the Maine Public Utilities Commission submitted on Dec. 29.
If approved, it will result in about a $13 increase per month for the average residential customer, Public Advocate William Harwood’s office said. That follows two increases, on July 1, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024, respectively, that led to about a combined $10 monthly increase to average residential bills.
The July 1 and Jan. 1 increases added $30 million in annual distribution revenue for the power company.
Versant’s request came days after 97,000 customers lost power during a wind and rain storm on Dec. 18, 2023. Restoration efforts lasted until Dec. 23, leaving many people throughout northern and eastern Maine without power for days.
If approved the new rate would not take effect until 2025 at the earliest, Versant spokesperson Judy Long said.
The distribution rate increase is needed to recover costs from “major storm restoration efforts” and deferred costs from the last distribution rate increase, according to Versant’s notice of intent. Other reasons include grid maintenance with rising material and labor costs and modernizing the customer’s experience.
Even if this new distribution rate increase were to take effect, the average residential customer would still see a lower monthly bill than they received in 2023.
Customers in Hancock, Piscataquis and Washington counties and most of Penobscot County received a lower standard offer rate at the start of January, the utilities commission said previously. The average residential customer will see about a $23 decrease in their monthly bill, the commission said.
That comes out to a decrease of about $18 per month after accounting for Versant’s Jan. 1 rate hike.
BDN writer Billy Kobin contributed to this report.