Who is ceo of central maine power

The new president and CEO of Central Maine Power Co., the state’s largest electric utility, brings decades of previous experience with the company as well as top credentials with the New Hampshire operations of Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES).

Joseph Purington will assume the post in late September, according to a news release Wednesday.

He replaces Scott Mahoney, who served as interim president and CEO after the retirement, at the end of June, of Doug Herling. Herling had been with CMP for 36  years and head of the company since 2018.

Mahoney will transition back to his role as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of CMP’s parent company, Connecticut-based Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR).

A Jay native, Purington earned an associate degree from Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute (now Southern Maine Community College) and a bachelor’s degree from Southern New Hampshire University. 

He began his operations career at CMP in 1987, working for 28 years in a variety of roles, including director of distribution operations.

He then worked in an expanded role for Avangrid’s predecessor company, with responsibility for ensuring that energy control centers and substation operations met compliance and regulatory requirements. 

In 2014 he joined Eversource New Hampshire and in January 2020 became president of New Hampshire operations for Eversource.

“I am eager to return to Maine as a proud CMP employee once more, and to lead the company as we strive to meet — and exceed — the needs of our customers every single day,” Purington said in the release. “While I will be returning to familiar territory and many familiar coworkers, we face new challenges in helping Maine realize its clean energy future, and I can’t wait to get started.”

David Flanagan, executive chairman for CMP, helped lead the search to fill the CEO role and will assume a senior advisory role with the company upon Purington’s appointment.

“Joe and I worked together during the ice storm of 1998 here in Maine and I trust his leadership and brilliant problem-solving abilities,” he said. “He is well-suited to lead CMP into a new era that demands more clean energy to support the electrification of our economy.”

Flanagan cited Purington’s previous experience with CMP’s infrastructure and operations as well as his experience leading a similarly sized utility in New England as reasons for his recruitment back to the company.

Purington steps into the role as the company deals with a number of issues. That includes controversy around CMP’s planned 145-mile electricity transmission corridor through the western part of the state, called New England Clean Energy Connect, which has been the subject of legal challenges and a citizens petition.

In related news, Flanagan, 74, said Wednesday he is battling pancreatic cancer, according to the Portland Press Herald. He served as CEO of CMP from 1994 to 2000, and returned last year to the company as executive chairman as it confronted public criticism over billing errors and service disruption.

Central Maine Power Co. has chosen a new president and chief executive who says he will draw on his past experience at CMP to try to restore public trust in the embattled utility.

Joseph A. Purington, president of operations for Eversource Energy in New Hampshire, has been appointed to the top spot at Central Maine Power, the company announced Wednesday. Purington worked for CMP for 28 years before joining the New Hampshire utility in 2014.

Incoming Central Maine Power President and CEO Joseph A. Purington Courtesy of Central Maine Power

“I grew up on this system,” Purington said of CMP’s operations. He said he wants to focus on improving reliability and building a “smarter, stronger and more resilient grid” in the company’s service area in central and southern Maine.

Purington will replace interim President and CEO Scott Mahoney, who will transition back to his role as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Avangrid, CMP’s domestic parent company based in Connecticut.

Mahoney has lived in Maine for 30 years and took over the interim spot following the June retirement of former CMP President and CEO Doug Herling.

Purington will inherit two high-profile issues when he officially rejoins CMP in about a month: construction of a controversial power corridor to bring hydroelectric power from Quebec through western Maine, and calls for a public buyout of the utility.

CMP created a subsidiary to oversee the corridor work, and Purington said he will support the team that’s in place on the project, which is being challenged through a voter referendum in November.

And he said the best way to counter calls to create a consumer-owned utility is by improving CMP’s customer service and reliability. Purington believes that a consumer-owned and operated utility doesn’t always act in a way that’s best for the business and customers.

“I think it’s a very bad idea,” he said about the proposed takeover of CMP and separately owned utility Versant Power. “Decisions get made for political reasons.”

A consumer-owned utility would also be saddled by a huge debt taken on to purchase the company and its assets, and would likely be hobbled by lawsuits and bureaucratic infighting, Purington said.

When Purington assumes his new position, David Flanagan, whom Avangrid appointed as CMP’s executive chairman and who helped lead the search to fill the CEO post, will assume a senior advisory role with the company. Flanagan had been CMP’s head from 1994 to 2000.

Flanagan told the Portland Press Herald on Wednesday that he is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Purington said he will call on Flanagan for advice often. The two worked together to sell CMP’s electricity-generating assets when the state split electric service into companies that produce electricity and those, like CMP, that deliver that power to customers. They were also two of the key executives in charge of guiding CMP’s response to a severe ice storm in 1998 that brought down lines across the state and left many without electricity for days or weeks.

Purington worked at CMP in several positions starting in 1987, including director of distribution operations. He joined Eversource New Hampshire in 2014 and assumed the position of president for New Hampshire operations in January 2020.

In addition to rebuilding customer trust, Purington said he hopes to restore pride to the company’s workers and reassure customers that “Central Maine Power is led by Maine people.”

“I am eager to return to Maine as a proud CMP employee once more and to lead the company as we strive to meet – and exceed – the needs of our customers every single day,” Purington said in a statement. “While I will be returning to familiar territory and many familiar coworkers, we face new challenges in helping Maine realize its clean energy future.”

Flanagan said he’s confident CMP chose the right person to take charge.

“CMP will be in excellent hands with Joe returning to take the helm,” Flanagan said. “He is a Maine native, understands our customers, and his experience with CMP’s infrastructure and operations as well as his experience leading a similarly sized utility in New England are the reasons we recruited him to lead the company.”

But Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, one of CMP’s harshest critics and leader of the effort to buy out CMP and convert it to a consumer-owned utility, said he doesn’t intend to let up on his criticism just because a new person is in charge.

“I welcome the news (of a new head of CMP) and look forward to meeting with Mr. Purington to hear his thoughts on CMP’s worst-in-the nation customer satisfaction and obstruction of local renewables, as well as Maine’s 10th-highest electricity rates and second-longest outages in the nation,” Berry said. “In 50 years, I hope our children and grandchildren will look back and say Mr. Purington was an effective leader during Maine’s transition to a proven, superior utility business model and to a full, fast and fair transition to clean energy independence.”

A Jay native, Purington attended Jay High School, earned an associate’s degree from the former Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute and a bachelor’s degree from Southern New Hampshire University.

Central Maine Power Co.’s new president and CEO said Wednesday that he plans to continue efforts to restore trust in the embattled company, a task started by David Flanagan, the CMP leader taking a diminished role after being diagnosed with cancer.

Joseph Purington, a Jay native, comes to the utility from Eversource Energy, where he was president of New Hampshire operations. His duties included the role of incident commander for large-scale power restoration efforts covering more than 500,000 customers.

The announcement came before Flanagan revealed he is battling pancreatic cancer, telling the Portland Press Herald that is getting twice-weekly treatments at the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta. He told the newspaper that he has low energy levels as a result of the sickness and treatment. Flanagan will remain in a less-demanding advisory role to Purington.

CMP has about 646,000 customers in central and southern Maine. The state holds the dubious distinction of topping most other states in the number and duration of power outages caused primarily by severe weather and downed trees, according to an analysis of federal data by electric automation company MRO Electric.

He also worked for CMP for 28 years before joining Eversource, including managing CMP’s energy control center and leading transmission and distribution system operations. He was director of system operations for CMP’s parent Iberdrola USA, now known as Avangrid.

Purington takes the reins after the June retirement of former CMP president Doug Herling. Flanagan, 74, who served as CMP’s CEO from 1994 to 2000, was hired back in 2020 as executive chairman with a goal of restoring CMP’s standing with customers.

David Flanagan, executive chairman of Central Maine Power, confirmed he has pancreatic cancer and will take on a more limited role at the utility. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN

Its reputation dropped after the utility’s slow response to a massive 2017 windstorm, which was followed by billing and customer service errors that led to a $10 million penalty from a state regulator. Under Flanagan, CMP offered a $25 credit for late or inaccurate bills following a botched start to the company’s new billing system.

Purington and Flanagan worked together during the ice storm of 1998 in Maine that brought most activity in Maine to a halt for days. Purington said he wants to make CMP’s infrastructure stronger and more resilient to prepare for the increasingly harsh weather in New England.

“He is well-suited to lead CMP into a new era that demands more clean energy to support the electrification of our economy,” Flanagan said.

Purington, who plans to move to Windham, said CMP was rated highly in customer satisfaction when he left the company and he was surprised to see its ratings flag, saying he wants to “move the company forward.”

The new leader takes over as CMP is facing major political challenges. Mainers will vote in November on a question aiming to stop the $1 billion hydropower corridor through western Maine being managed by a CMP affiliate and Hydro-Quebec. Critics are also pushing for a 2022 referendum vote to replace CMP and Versant Power, the state’s other big electric utility, with a consumer-owned utility after Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill to do so.

Purington said there’s no guarantee a consumer-owned utility will change anything or make service better, and it could bring long legal battles and uncertainty.

“When you get into these situations … no one will be willing to make the investments we need to make,” he said. “Every day, the system is getting older.”