MAINE MONITOR • July 4, 2025
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of thousands of Mainers woke up to higher electricity bills. Central Maine Power’s rate hike, its second in as many years, was largely driven by the utility’s need to recover costs from severe storms in the last few years — the type of extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and severe due to global climate change. The average household’s monthly bill is expected to jump by about $5, or 3.3 percent, one year after a roughly $10 monthly increase. As Mainers prepared to reach deeper into their bank accounts to help bankroll the mounting impacts of fossil fuel-driven climate change on energy infrastructure, Republicans in Congress advanced a massive budget bill that is likely to further drive up energy costs and deliver a blow to renewable energy projects, energy efficiency programs and climate action in Maine and across the country.