PPH & BDN - Class action lawsuit to be filed against CMP for high bills

CMP Ratepayers United, which has demanded that the state conduct a more thorough investigation into customers’ complaints of inflated CMP bills, also has been invited to join the lawsuit, said Sumner Lipman, the founding partner of Lipman and Katz.

CMP Ratepayers United has more than 4,800 members.

About 97,000 Central Maine Power customers‘ monthly bills increased 50 percent or more in December, January or February over the same month a year earlier, according to information the company provided to the Public Utilities Commission in April. The law firms contend that another 200,000 customers have been overcharged by up to 50 percent.

More here:

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/07/17/over-200-cmp-customers-joini...

and

Class action lawsuit to be filed against CMP for high bills

“As a result of our investigation, it is estimated that over 97,000 customers of Central Maine Power Company have been overcharged 50% or more on their utility bills, and another 200,000 customers have been overcharged up to 50%,” Lipman wrote in the announcement.

https://bangordailynews.com/2018/07/18/business/class-action-lawsui...

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Comment by Nancy Sosman on July 20, 2018 at 5:09pm


https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a1592952...  

LePage the twit and his parting salvo, though this ban of all wind farms won't hold up in court because his objections are too narrow.  Too bad he didn't go for the gusto, makes me question his motivation.

Comment by Barbara Durkin on July 19, 2018 at 9:26pm

Who benefits?

Art writes, “All the opposition in town can’t stop a project when it’s in the Unorganized Territory  this is because of the heinous Wind Act.”

The architect(s) of the 2008 Wind Act will likely benefit. 

Adams, Gaynor, Balducci/Avangrid?

There should be a “cooling off” time during which regulators cannot

benefit financially by regulations they’ve helped craft.  

Comment by Art Brigades on July 19, 2018 at 7:53pm

Nancy - your only luck was living in an organized town where you could write local land use zoning ordinances.  All the opposition in town can’t stop a project when it’s in the Unorganized Territory  this is because of the heinous Wind Act. 

Comment by Barbara Durkin on July 19, 2018 at 5:04pm

When it sounds too good to be true, the noise is coming from a windbag.  As Jon Boone (a mentor) said to me years ago, “There’s no penalty for lying in this marketplace.”  Good siting, Boone contends and I agree, is an oxymoron.  A scam is a scam no matter where it lands.  

Nice work on Mt. Waldo, Nancy.  Congratulations!  

Comment by Nancy Sosman on July 19, 2018 at 4:41pm

Here in our small town of Frankfort we beat back turbines on Mt Waldo.  Two years of due diligence and I learned all I needed to know about the scam of wind turbines. Most people are ignorant about them, they think they're the answer to use of fossil fuels. They call them "clean energy".  So much hypocrisy and misinformation.  We were lucky to stop the project, extremely lucky.

Comment by Barbara Durkin on July 19, 2018 at 4:10pm

Thank you, Nancy, for your very interesting information.  Quasar comes up a lot in my searches.  

And my biggest gripe has always been the failure of due diligence vetting these wind LLCs.  

I’m not on FB, just Twitter @barbarajdurkin & here, @ WTF ;)

Burns & McDonnell get around...

NECEC 

Burns and McDonnell Engineering Co, Inc.   

Portland, ME. 9/27/17

https://www.maine.gov/dep/ftp/projects/necec/applications/SiteLocat...

Your link:  

‘Footprint cuts ties with Iberdrola’

By Dustin Luca Staff Writer 

Apr 16, 2018 

“Burns & McDonnell, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, will now oversee the project. The company has been working on the plant in the background since December, which Silverstein said will allow for a smooth transition in project leadership.”

http://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/footprint-cuts-ties-with-i...

Comment by Nancy Sosman on July 19, 2018 at 2:33pm
Comment by Nancy Sosman on July 19, 2018 at 2:13pm


https://www.journaltribune.com/articles/stateregional/puc-launches-...

Barbara, I've started a fb page "NECEC FACTS and other misc info". If you're on fb, check it out.  Most members, there very few of us willing to speak out, have been censored and removed from Unite for asking serious questions about the lawsuit.  Mostly I try to post info about New England Clean Energy Connect boondoggle. If you can't find the page look for me Nance Lynn.

P.S. Avangrid is jointly owned by a Spanish corp and a corp in Qatar, in the Persian Gulf.  Currently there's a scathing documentary on PBS about the African workers hired to work there.  But mostly imagine, our grid is owned by an Arab Nation and when Avangrid stocks rise, its the rich sheiks in Qatar that benefit.  Not to mention the security threat in these days of cyber attacks.  CMP needs to be returned to Maine, that's the only solution to all our problems.  Of course as long as the PUC is in the back pocket of CMP and now Mills, also receiving largesse from CMP, will be useless if she wins.  It's quite an epic battle.

Comment by Barbara Durkin on July 19, 2018 at 1:22pm

Thank you for sharing this information, Nancy.  I think it’s “kinda stinky”, too.  

Because it pertains to Iberdrola that is by Avangrid 50% partner with Vineyard Wind of MA, now under review by Yarmouth, MA Selectmen, I’ve passed your comment along to the Board & Town Counsel.  

ME is “ahead” of MA dealing with Iberdrola spawns.  CMP seeks to expand a substation in ME, and there is that paucity of information, again, provided by them on thier plan.  

 

Re: Vineyard Wind’s Cape Cod reception-

Division of Marine Fisheries Director states, 

“There are no details about how feedback from the fishing industry will be evaluated and applied to the project,” Pierce wrote and underlined. “There is a general lack of accountability procedures related to impacts to fisheries.”

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20180620/state-wants-added-wind-fa...

Another Red Flag!

Vineyard Wind “Avangrid Renewables [Iberdrola] will not release the amount of power actually produced after more than a year of operation, said company spokesman Paul Copleman.” 
http://amp.miamiherald.com/news/business/article214573470.html
I think the source for “kinda stinky” MA news is the Boston Globe:

[Jim] Conroy served as Baker’s campaign manager during the Republican’s successful 2014 race against Democrat Martha Coakley. He joined state government when Baker took office in January 2015 and served as a top adviser, ..”

“Jim Conroy, an experienced political strategist who managed Baker’s 2014 campaign and is a key adviser on his reelection bid, also worked with Vineyard Wind LLC and Central Maine Power Co., helping the companies beat out competitors for what will be two of New England’s biggest energy projects.

Conroy helped Vineyard Wind, a joint venture owned by Connecticut-based Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to win contracts that would enable a wind farm to be built with as many as 100 turbines spinning about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.”

“On the wind farm effort, Conroy works with Christian Scorzoni of Boston public affairs firm Travaglini, Eisenberg & Kiley LLC, which lobbies on behalf of Vineyard Wind...”

Cut-

Thank You,
Barbara Durkin
Comment by Nancy Sosman on July 18, 2018 at 7:17am

The class action has been tainted since the start.  Pat Milligan who claimed he found attorneys has a history with a corp that works for Iberdola/Avangrid, cmps parent companies.  Leah Baldacci is an associate with The Lipman Katz firm.  Her father in law former gov John Baldacci is vice Chair of Avangrid. Katz is a sitting Maine Senator who voted against LD1729 which allocated costs of audit to cmp in the event of malfeasance instead of ratepayers.  It also imposes regular testing of smart meters.  The woman Lipman hired to collect ratepayer info is McNally, former Trump campaign manager when he ran for office.  She's a big fan of LePage and Jeff Sessions.  The man whose been selected to represent ratepayers in the suit is not a member of Unite and has no presence on fb.  He does however work for  urns&McDonnell and McHale & Assoc. McHale works for Avangrid.  There are over 4,000 Unite members, between 200-300 signed onto suit.  Why find this guy?  It's impossible to understand what's going on and what the intentions are of the players.  Kinda stinky.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

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 -- Mahatma Gandhi

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Vince Lombardi 

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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