BEFORE THE STATE OF MAINE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION In the Matter of the: Public Utilities Commission Initiated Investigation of Metering and Billing Issues Pertaining to Central Maine Power Company Docket No. 2019-00015 Direct Testimony of N. David Semon On Behalf of Maine Office of the Public Advocate September 6, 2019 Office of the Public Advocate 112 State House Station Augusta, Me 04333-0112 DIRECT TESTIMONY OF N. DAVID SEMON 1 2 Q. Please state your name and professional affiliation. 3 A. My name is N. David Semon of Freeport, Maine. I have been the owner of Gulf of 4 Maine Custom Homes, Inc. since 2004. Prior to that, I was Operations Manager at 5 Taggart Construction from 1996 to 2004. 6 Q. Please describe your relevant professional experience. 7 A. Until recently, I was a BPI Certified Building Analyst and certified Third-Party 8 Inspector specializing in energy efficient green energy project. In these roles, I served 9 as an Energy Auditor and have given advice to over 200 customers about how to 10 reduce their electricity consumption. I have substantial knowledge about how much 11 electricity different devices use. 12 Q. What is the purpose of your testimony. 13 A. I am offering testimony regarding my metering and billing experience with Central 14 Maine Power Company since the implementation of its new billing system applying 15 my professional experience. 16 Q. billing system. 17 18 Please describe your experience since the implementation of CMP’s new A. For the month of February 2019, my electric bill was 21% higher than the previous 19 year and 35% higher than the previous month, despite the fact that, according to 20 NOAA online weather data, December and January 2019 were warmer than they 21 were last year. In March, my bill was 68% higher than the previous year. I went 22 through the hourly usage information for my house provided by the Energy Manager 23 on CMP's website and discovered usage spikes at 3 and 4 am on many days during 24 the two months in question. These are large spikes, sometimes recording the highest 25 usage rate for the day. I called CMP customer services and we went through the 26 possible causes for a spike in usage at 3 am, none of which pertain to me. There are Direct Testimony of N. David Semon Page 1 1 just my wife and I in the house and we are both sound asleep at 3am. I spent 40 2 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep going over possible causes for a 3 spike at 3am. We found nothing; CMP could not explain the usage spikes. The 4 customer service rep sent a technician to my house to test the meter and the test 5 showed that the meter was accurate within acceptable limits. That is the extent of 6 what CMP is willing to do for me. April's bill was closer to normal, but I looked at 7 the hourly usage anyway and discovered that my usage for April 26th, as documented 8 by CMP's Energy Manager, was .78 kWh for 24 hours straight, with no variation. And 9 on May 10th, my usage dropped to zero at 8pm. (This entry has changed since then; 10 my usage no longer drops to zero, there is now a gap in the data showing no usage 11 data at 8pm.) These instances are clearly not possible and yet these are the usage 12 numbers I am being billed for. Something needs to be done to fix this system; my 13 confidence in it is nonexistent as everyone's should be. 14 Q. What conclusions do you draw from this experience. 15 A. There are serious and fundamental issues with CMP’s billing and/or metering 16 systems, or the interface between these systems, which appears to intermittently be 17 measuring and billing for service that was not actually delivered. These issues have 18 not been resolved. CMP is unable or unwilling to address these issues and offers 19 poor customer service in response to customer inquiries with respect to these 20 problems. 21 Q. Does this conclude your testimony? 22 A. Yes, it does. Direct Testimony of N. David Semon Page 2