I have been watching on TV and reading in the paper about Central Maine Power Co.’s request for a rate hike. They say they need about $95 million to stay afloat but might be able to make it an 80-odd million.

I can think of many ways they could save more money without an increase. I could do without their TV ads telling me how hard they work for us, the men they hire to go around to meetings to tell people what good people they are, having three different meter readers on the same road, the same day, chasing each other around. …

CMP reminds me of the old-fashioned horse trader who wants $50 for a horse that’s worth $25. The buyer (consumer) approaches and asks the price. The horse trader says $100, the buyer says “no way” and the dickering begins.

A crowd (PUC) gathers to watch and listen to the show. After a few hours the buyer gets the horse trader down to $50 and the horse trader says “sold!”

The buyer feels good because he saved $50, the horse trader gets $25 more than he should have and what he wanted in the first place, and the crowd says, “Now wasn’t that fair and good.” Everybody thinks they were the ones who came out on top when it was only the horse trader who really did.

So, the “horse trader” will win again until we “buyers” get a little “horse sense” and get the “crowd” to put a stop to these ridiculous demands. Joan R. Flood Plymouth