Out of energy, Bangor Hydro president to retire

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BANGOR – After a little more than six months at the helm, Carroll Lee has notified Bangor Hydro-Electric Co.’s 425 employees that he is retiring as president by the beginning of summer.

It’s been a difficult six months for Lee and the utility, something the 32-year company veteran acknowledged when confirming Thursday that he has cemented his exit plans.

The 52-year-old said his retirement isn’t timed to coincide with the pending layoffs of an unspecified number of co-workers. In late February, he announced that Bangor Hydro would be eliminating jobs as part of a plan to cut $6.4 million from its budget.

“If I could, I guess my druthers would be to stay on longer and deal with the [regulatory issues],” Lee said. “But I’ve been here 32 years and I’m kinda out of gas.”

Lee was named president in late October after the Bangor-based utility was purchased for $205 million by Emera Inc. of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He replaced Robert S. Briggs, who retired but was named to Emera’s board of directors.

Preceding his actual departure, Lee said he will continue to work on a controversial rate plan pending before the Maine Public Utilities Commission and will concentrate on long-term investment projects such as plans to build a transmission line from Baileyville to Orrington.

“I’ve got a few more things I’ve got to do here and by summer I’m hoping to leave,” he said.

Day-to-day management will be handed over to other individuals, said Lee, not mentioning any names. The most likely person to run the company will be Ray Robinson, Emera’s vice president of utility integration who has been at Bangor Hydro since the merger. Emera spokeswoman Allison Gillian confirmed that Robinson has been actively involved in Bangor Hydro’s operations since the merger was completed.

Other participants in the state’s regulatory environment are wondering just who is in charge at Bangor Hydro. In the months that followed the merger, the Canadian parent company moved into Maine with a strong management presence not just at Bangor Hydro’s downtown Bangor office but also at the table with state regulatory agencies.

On Thursday, Stephen Ward, the state’s public advocate, acknowledged what others have been saying in conversations for some time about how the utility is managed.

“There’s confusion on who’s calling the shots and what shots need to be called,” said Ward, noting that senior Emera officials have been heavily involved in policy and personnel decisions.

Anthony Buxton, an attorney for the Industrial Energy Consumers Group, said Lee’s upcoming departure might be the result of a parent company trying to take control of a subsidiary that could be facing a mandated independent audit of its operations. “I would like to think it was not an inevitable response to the merger but it appears that way,” Buxton said.

In recent months, Bangor Hydro has faced fierce opposition to some of its plans, including rate increases and the building of a new transmission line.

In late January, the PUC said it would delay until May a decision on whether Bangor Hydro should undergo an independent audit of its management structure and its books because of customer complaints about paying the highest electricity transmission rates in the state. Discussion of the audit came up in commission proceedings on whether it should grant the utility a $6.4 million rate increase.

Bangor Hydro, along with Emera, requested that the PUC hold off on its decision until Emera could conduct an internal audit of the utility and subsequently put in place its own operational efficiencies.

Less than a month later, Lee announced that the utility would not seek the rate increase but instead would cut costs by 20 percent and eliminate some jobs. He said the action could freeze electricity transmission rates for up to six years.

Bangor Hydro is working with the PUC and others on its cost-saving measures and no specifics have been disclosed.

In February, staff members at the Bureau of Environmental Protection urged their board to reject the utility’s plans to build a new transmission line from Baileyville to Orrington. Before the BEP held a formal vote, Emera took over the transmission line project from Bangor Hydro project managers, withdrew its application from BEP consideration and said it would refile it soon.

At the time, Jeremy Byatt, Emera’s vice president for external affairs, said Emera took over the power line issue so Bangor Hydro could focus on transmitting power.

Chris Huskilson, vice president of Emera and chief operating officer of Nova Scotia Power, Emera’s largest subsidiary, has taken over the transmission line project, Gillian said.

Emera’s strong interjection into the management of Bangor Hydro does not surprise Lee, who said the company is a strong parent that is concerned about protecting the interests of its shareholders.

“The way I characterize it is the challenges the company is facing financially right now would have happened without the merger,” Lee said.

PUC Chairman Tom Welch said it’s not unusual that “when mergers settle in there’s change.”

“I’m always a little sad when things change, but that’s the nature of the business,” he said. “He was a strong advocate for his company.”

Lee was a “strong advocate for the interests of his stakeholders,” Ward said.

“He never lost sight that shareholders ultimately were the people paying for his supper,” Ward said.

Lee, who serves on numerous community boards, said that after a few months off to take in some fishing, he may consider securing another job. Although it’s likely it will be in a utility-related field, the Houlton native said he also is considering teaching or community service.

But after 32 years at Bangor Hydro, the transition will be a hard one to handle.

“I’m certainly going to miss the people at Bangor Hydro,” Lee said. “They’re a tremendous asset to the people in the community. I’ve got a lot of friends here and I’m going to miss coming through the doors every morning.”