A citizen complaint over the town’s roughly 35% rate increase has advanced to testimony, data requests, and a technical conference.
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BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor’s new water rates have already arrived in customers’ bills. Now the Maine Public Utilities Commission is taking a closer look at how those rates were structured and how the town went about approving them.
Since the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) officially opened an investigation into Bar Harbor’s new water rates, the Town Council has approved a water budget, one of the complainants has submitted direct testimony, and the PUC held a September 1 conference.
The August 4 announcement that an official investigation has been opened came after a 10-person citizen complaint to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) asking that Bar Harbor’s approved water rate increases be sent back to the town.
“The complainants raise two primary issues. First, the complainants allege that the division’s rate structure results in rates that are not just and reasonable in that the declining block rate used by the division results in per unit usage rates that are smaller for customers with larger meters and, thus, use more water. Second, the complainants allege a lack of transparency on the part of the Division regarding the recent rate proceeding,” the 10-page notice reads.
The lead petitioner of the complaint is Charles Sidman, who also led the citizen’s initiative for the town’s cruise ship disembarkation changes and has been involved in multiple appeals and lawsuits since then, including acting beside the town as a defendant-intervenor in a lawsuit filed against the town’s new cruise ship rules.
After Town Council action this winter, following a lengthy study, the town’s water rates increased by approximately 35%. The increase occurred after a decade of no changes.
The increase is meant to cover an approximate $1 million budget shortfall for an approved budget of $3.3 million. The current rate results in $2.2 million in revenue.
Those new rates began as of April 1, 2026. Those water rates were approved by the Town Council this winter. Councilor David Kief had voted against the rate change. Current Councilor Deborah Vickers was not on the council at the time.
In March, Sidman and nine others requested the PUC to investigate Bar Harbor’s rates and the process of how it achieved them. The group said that the rates favor those who use more water than residents and that they cause economic hardship to “average citizens.”
The water rates—and the eventual results of the PUC investigation—impact people who use town water, which is almost all of Bar Harbor downtown proper and then a portion of Hulls Cove and properties in between those two areas. The town’s waterlines also extend up to Jackson Lab and part of Schooner Head Road.
SIDMAN TESTIMONY
On September 22, Sidman submitted a 111-page document to the PUC outlining his reasons for the complaint against the town’s new water rates.
A summary of his testimony focuses on his belief that residents are paying double their share of usage for the town’s water system.
He recommended that the PUC find that the town’s block rate structure is unjust and unreasonable and gives preference to large-volume users. He also recommended that the water division have a single uniform rate based on unit of water consumed for all customers and that there be no minimum charge.
The town’s water budget itself does not go through the typical process. Neither does the town’s sewer budget. These budgets do not go before the town’s voters after first being looked at by the town council and warrant committee. Instead, these budgets are approved by the town council.
Town staff and Olver Associates, a hired consultant, believe that the 35% (approximately) rate increase on all meter sizes helps to create more equitable distribution of cost.
THE IMPACT
For a customer with the smallest meter (⅝”), who consumed 8,314 cubic feet in a year, they previously (before the first change) paid an annual total of $480. After the change, that same customer would now pay $621, a cost increase of $161 or 35%.
According to town staff, a user with a ⅝” meter who was using close to the minimum saw a $26.66 quarterly increase, which would be approximately $8-12 a month, or a $106.64 increase.
However, a larger user with a 6” meter who used 1,687,085 cubic feet of water would see their bill increase from $30,594 to $57,823, an increase of over $27,000 or 89%.
Users with 3” and 4” meter in comparisons shown by staff often had increases of annual cost between 89% to 174% depending on consumption.
The rate structure has multiple tiers for year-round and seasonal use.
The water budget for fiscal year 2027, reflects the PUC rate approval in April. Gross capital expenditures from internal funds are projected at $376,000.
There is also, according to the budget, “a 27.5% budgeted increase of operating expenses due to increased cost of utilities and contractual engineering studies and services.”
Revenues are projected to be 28.5% higher than the actual revenues the year before. Operating expenses are expected to increase by 27.5%.
There is $376,000 in capital spending in the budget, which has already been approved, and it is “covered by previously internally generated funds as well as new appropriations, this excludes debt service. The fiscal year just ending (FY26) projects a decrease of cash of approximately $267,041 primarily because of capital spending,” according to town documents.
Those capital spending projects include new mains on Cromwell Harbor Road, Glen Mary Road, Shannon Road, and Hancock Street.
So, under this new budget, the minimum bill for 1,200 cubic feet using a 5/8” meter is $102.83 four times a year.
According to the FY2027 memo and budget document, “At the current rates, 8000 cubic feet in annual water usage totals to $602 per annum for a family of four in Bar Harbor or $50.17 per month.”
In Bar Harbor there are 1823 metered customers. Of those 1297 accounts are residential (72%). And of those 1297 residential accounts, 20.6% are seasonal.
“The remaining 526 accounts are commercial. There are 113 customers related to non-metered sprinkler and private hydrant fire protection,” the budget explains.
THE INITIAL COMPLAINT
Sidman’s initial three-page letter details that the complaint is based on the group’s belief that the town has a “harmfully preferential and discriminatory” water rate structure that negatively impacts smaller users of water and benefits larger consumers of the resource.
He also argues that the town was not transparent as it proposed the changes to the public and PUC.
The complaint was signed by Sidman, Nathan Young, David Rapkievian, James O’Connell, Jeffrey Miller, Rick Seabury, James Schramm, Mary Jane Whitney, Dee Karnofsky, and Norah O’Brien.
Part of the issue that the PUC found was that a legal notice about the rate change’s public hearing did not include language about appealing.
“While the newspaper notice contains information about the rate change and some customer rights, the newspaper notice does not include information about the ability to petition the Commission and the process to submit petitions and request an investigation,” the draft document stated.
The Maine Office of the Public Advocate petitioned to intervene on August 5, 2026.
SEPTEMBER 1 PROCEEDING
Sam Hamilton and Jonathan Dunitz of Verrill Dana represented the Bar Harbor Water Division, before the PUC on September 1. Kris Winther and Bill Kennedy represented the Office of the Public Advocate at what basically was a scheduling meeting for the next various steps of the complaint.
Sidman’s testimony had to be filed by September 22.
Data requests will be due in October 6. Sidman would have a chance to reply again.
The technical conference is scheduled for 10 a.m., October 29.
Then oral data requests are due the following Thursday which is November 5.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Water Budget Documents for FY2027
To head to the PUC site with all the case files.
Maine Public Utilities Commission Opens Investigation of Bar Harbor’s New Water Rates.
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