The Maine Public Utilities Commission has denied a request to pause the hike in water rates this month at the Loring Commerce Center, even as it investigates that increase.
In deliberations Tuesday, Maine PUC members agreed the investigation should continue, but did not suspend the increases despite requests by 10 local petitioners and the Maine Office of the Public Advocate.
The controversy started in October when the Loring Development Authority, which oversees operations at the former Loring Air Force Base, said higher rates were necessary to maintain the aging water system. Customers said they were blindsided by the increases, which would roughly triple their current payments. A group of 10 people petitioned the Maine PUC to investigate and halt the rate hikes.
Though the PUC started investigating in November, it couldn’t halt the increases because there are no other numbers on record, commissioners said Tuesday.
“This is an unusual situation in that Loring Development Authority only recently became a regulated utility, and the rates complained of were put in place as the utility’s initial rates,” PUC Chair Robert Bartlett II said.
Because the authority had no prior water rates on file with the state, it’s unclear what customers would pay if the new fees were suspended, he said.
The investigation should continue, but there isn’t enough information at this point to stop the rates from going forward. That could change as the case unfolds, Bartlett said.
It’s been a complicated path for local customers, the development authority and the PUC. The new rates were approved Oct. 1 and slated to go into effect on Jan. 1 this year.
Under the new rates, customers would pay $471.30 for at least 900 cubic feet of water, according to the authority’s proposal to the Maine PUC. Rates would rise based on the size of the water meter.
The previous rates were unchanged since 2016. While the rates varied based on how much water customers used, those using up to 1,199 cubic feet had paid the greater of $40 per quarter or 40 cents per cubic foot.
Lead petitioner Tim McCabe, who with his wife Sandy owns the Bunker Inn on the former base, said in November the new rates would hike their water and sewer costs from $7,000 to more than $21,000 a year. Customers weren’t given information or a chance to share concerns during the rate approval process, he said in an Oct. 23 letter to the PUC.
“The utility’s efforts to communicate the rate changes were insufficient,” he wrote. “We also ask that the PUC put the new rates on hold so that we do not have to pay the higher bills until this 10-person complaint investigation is completed.”
Nine others joined the petition: residents Theresa Woodworth, Rachelle Perreault, Elaine Akerson, Gail Isabel and B.B. Hredocik, and business owners Brittni Basu, co-manager of the Manser Drive apartments at Loring; Polly Chike, president of Loring Air Museum; Thomas Ayer of CircleB Farms, which operates a broccoli processing facility at Loring; and Mark Appleton of British Cycle Supply.
In its response to the complaint, the development authority countered that it learned in 2023 its water system wasn’t regulated under the PUC. Loring now operates its water system together with the Maine Rural Water Association.
Development authority CEO Jonathan Judkins wrote in a Nov. 22, 2024, letter to the PUC that since rates hadn’t changed since 2016, water system maintenance had been deferred.
“Leaks were resolved by shutting off unoccupied sections of the campus, over 100 public and private hydrants were taken out of service, electrical fixtures in the chemical room were inoperable, staffing levels were decreased,” Judkins wrote.
The authority acknowledged customers would be significantly affected by the new rates, and said it would ease the impact with a short-term 50-percent subsidy, Judkins’ letter said.
Maine’s Office of the Public Advocate, which represents state utility ratepayers before the PUC, also asked to have the increases paused until the investigation is concluded.
During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners Patrick Scully and Carolyn Gilbert acknowledged the strain on customers and said temporarily reduced rates might be part of the solution.
“I would hope that as this develops, a means to develop a temporary rate or some other relief comes about and we can implement that,” Gilbert said.
