Are consumer advocates raising the bar or developing unrealistic goals with new standards? Maine Public Utilities Commission hopes to improve customer care and reduce restoration times with quality-of-service standards. The Commission has not said whether smaller, consumer-owned power systems would be held to the same standards as investor-owned utilities in the state. Maryland has a sliding scale for measuring restoration times in connection with the severity of a storm and Barbara Alexander, consultant for consumers and public utility advocates, hopes Maine can follow suit. Â
