Energy Cafe: How Understanding CMP Rates Can Help You Save Money

Following our retrofitMaine discussion at our April 9th workshop, we plan to focus this gathering on CMP pricing and rate options to calculate if you could be saving money on your electric bills. We ask that you come with your bills, pre-downloaded data from your CMP Energy Manager account, or if you're not sure where to start, bring your CMP login information, and we can walk you through the steps. We will run some analysis to check if you are on the best rate for your energy use!

Michael Dunn has been fascinated with electricity since first grade when he and his father built an electric motor with wire and a tin can. Back then, he had patience and finally got the motor working in third grade. Many electronic projects later he graduated with a BS in electrical and computer engineering from Clemson. A physics class at Clemson required reading Amory Lovins' Soft Energy Paths which sealed his interest in energy issues. After a falling out with technology a few years later, a cross-continental solo motorcycle trip, a winter of discontent in South Carolina and a summer in Europe, Mike hitch-hiked to a job interview in Maine to become a potter's apprentice. There he met a woman who somehow convinced him to help her build a house on some cut-over swamp, er, forested wetland in Harrison. Andrea hated the electric utility and so they lived off-grid for 30 years before grid-tying the solar system. She hasn't kicked Mike out because he hasn't finished the house yet. They are assembling a permaculture food forest for physical, emotional and, perhaps, financial sustenance.

Check out the 1st program in this series on April 9: Energy Efficiency Upgrades and Free Energy Coaching to Save Money