PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two Maine lawyers are filing a lawsuit against Central Maine Power on the behalf of three customers who say the utility illegally threatened to shutoff their power.
Philip Coffin and Summer Lipman said they would file the suit Tuesday, WGME-TV reported. They plan to seek class-action status to include other customers who received disconnection notices between Nov. 15 to April 15.
The utility cannot issue disconnect notices during the period without approval from the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
“Customers were forced, during the coldest months and during snow storms, to make a choice between heat, medicine and food. CMP’s actions were reprehensible,” Coffin and Lipman said in a news release.
The commission is currently investigating if the utility wrongfully sent out those notices.
A spokeswoman said the utility couldn’t comment on the lawsuit because it hadn’t seen it. But she said the utility has launched an internal investigation into the collections communications that were “confusing and misleading.” The utility is cooperating with the investigation.
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