Power cutoffs

The Public Utilities Commission decision to give the state’s largest power company the right to shut off the electricity of customers who fail to pay their bills is a symptom of a public policy issue that this state has failed to address:

Who should pay the utility costs of the poor?

By giving Central Maine Power Co. the authority to throw the switch on customers who do not honor special payment arrangements, the PUC has solved one immediate problem for the utility, but in doing so, it has exposed the larger issue of social responsibility that neither it, nor the other power companies are in a position to rectify.

Although the PUC decision appears inhumane because it technically allows the utility to turn off service to the poor during the cold winter months, the intent of the new policy is to dump the payment problem in the laps of municipalities.

Until this week, wintertime shut-off was prohibited. Consequently, utilities had no stick with which to prod delinquent accounts for payment and the poor had no agency to turn to for financial support. Local welfare offices respond to emergencies. If it is against the rules for the electric company to shut off power, a bona fide emergency technically is impossible. Now, there will be emergencies. Towns will pay and the state will partially reimburse them.

This bizarre scenario exists because the state Legislature has ducked an important issue of public policy. The welfare system, top-heavy in administration, spiritually numbing and debilitating for recipients, is a disaster. The food stamp program is grossly inefficient and a national disgrace. Housing, food and now utility access are considered necessities. Legislators have poured public money into these bottomless rat holes for housing and food, but they have left utility payments in limbo. Until this week, there was a danger in Maine that paying power customers might be saddled with the cost of subsidizing the utility welfare program. Now, it is clear that everyone will get to do it, through their municipal welfare offices and their state taxes.

This new program is set up to produce crises and disputes. It is another unfortunate example of what happens when legislators don’t do their jobs. They can run from responsibility, but the public can’t hide from reality.