Bangor Hydro may reduce staff by half

BANGOR – Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. may reduce its 425-person staff by almost half.

An organizational chart handed out to employees last week shows how Bangor Hydro will be staffed starting as early as May.

An employee made the document available to the Bangor Daily News on Monday.

According to the chart, the utility may employ only 209 people, less the business services division.

At last week’s gathering, the utility told employees that 71 people were offered early retirement packages and another 79 union jobs would be cut. At least 10 union workers were offered early retirement options.

A few of the employees, with the organizational chart clenched in their hands as they left last week’s meeting, said they were too shell-shocked by the actual confirmed number of layoffs to fully study the flow sheets to see whether the cuts would be deeper than 35 percent.

In the days that followed, they realized that up to half of the utility’s employee positions could be eliminated and one of them released the internal document to the media on Monday via fax – the same way he received the layoff notifications last week.

At least 209 full- and part-time positions will remain at the utility, excluding the business services division, according to the company document. Bangor Hydro has not yet determined how many people would be working in that division, which includes human resources, information technology, accounting and legal services.

“It’s not that I’m not giving you information that exists,” said Alison Gillan, spokeswoman for Bangor Hydro’s parent company, Emera Inc. of Halifax, Nova Scotia. “It’s just that we don’t have that information yet.”

Gillan said she did not know how many people currently made up the business services division. Customer service also is part of that unit and Bangor Hydro already has determined it will have 74 positions, which is at least 10 fewer jobs than current levels.

Last week, Bangor Hydro and Emera would not disclose how many other positions would be eliminated at the utility, agreeing only to discuss early retirements and union layoffs. Both Gillan and Carroll Lee, president and chief operating officer, said those numbers still were being worked out. Workers were told what the jobs would be, but not whether they would be the people to fill them.

Gillan confirmed Monday that the organizational chart is correct. Lee did not return a telephone call for comment.

Last week’s confirmed layoffs, and the circulation of the organizational chart, are part of a corporate restructuring plan that Bangor Hydro and Emera are undertaking since the Canadian parent purchased the transmission company for $205 million last October.

According to the plan, Bangor Hydro will be restructured into two divisions. One is a transmission and distribution asset management unit that will focus on keeping electricity flowing over its network of lines that serve a 5,275-square-mile territory. The other division is a business services unit that will include customer services, financial services, information technology and human resources.

Gillan said Monday that Emera will have a better idea at the end of the month how many people will continue to staff the business services unit. Employees who were offered the early retirement packages have a deadline of April 30 to inform the company about whether they are taking them. Then, she said, the company would decide on how many jobs still needed to be cut to hit budget targets.

On Wednesday, Emera also announced that it was forming a subsidiary called Bangor Line Co., which will not be regulated by the PUC and may be staffed by 55 people being laid off from Bangor Hydro. Emera plans to fill 45 of its 55 positions at Bangor Line with union workers being cut from the utility, including up to 40 linemen. Bangor Hydro is reducing its linemen crew by half.

Emera and Bangor Hydro last week announced the job cuts and their corporate restructuring plan as part of a rate plan currently pending before the PUC.

In January, Bangor Hydro asked the PUC to approve a rate increase totaling $6.4 million. It would have been at least the fifth approved rate increase in five years. On Jan. 23, the PUC said it was considering ordering an audit of Bangor Hydro’s management structure and its books because of a high volume of customer complaints about paying the highest transmission rates in the state.

But Bangor Hydro asked for – and received – a three-month delay on an audit vote because it and Emera wanted time to implement their own cost-saving measures that typically result from a merger.

In late February, Lee announced the utility would cut operating costs by 20 percent instead of seeking the $6.4 million rate increase.

A PUC vote on whether to order an audit tentatively is scheduled for late April, days before Bangor Hydro employees are to notify their employer about whether they will accept the early retirement packages.

At least 20 Bangor Hydro customers, irked by high rates and how the pending job cuts will affect service, have e-mailed the PUC about their concerns. Most of the customers state that Bangor Hydro should be audited.

“Management’s latest actions of laying off staff to avoid regulatory oversight begs the PUC to intervene on behalf of the consumer,” wrote Kyle Casburn of Orrington.

“Of course you should audit Bangor Hydro,” wrote customer Troy Robinson. “The sooner the better. The purpose of auditing is to check their credibility at that time, not waiting for them to fix their numbers. Why are you giving them the chance? The general public cannot believe you let Bangor Hydro get away with the three-month waiting period. You’ve heard the complaints.”

PUC spokesman Phil Lindley said the e-mailed comments have become part of the record in the case, and examiners studying whether Bangor Hydro should be audited will be reading them. The examiners are preparing a report to present to the three commissioners, who then will review the staffs’ recommendations before voting at the end of the month.

“Customer comments are always looked at in any case,” Lindley said.