BY MATTHEW STONE

Staff Writer

Hearings to allow public comment on a $1.4 billion proposal to upgrade much of the state's electrical-transmission infrastructure begin Wednesday with a session in Waterville.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the state's utilities, has scheduled two public hearings to allow residents to offer their opinions on a Central Maine Power Co. proposal to add 350 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. A Public Utilities Commission spokesman said the agency will plan additional public sessions after November.

The proposed 345,000-volt transmission lines would stretch from the southern end of the state through 80 municipalities in the Portland, Augusta and Pittsfield areas. The transmission line would end near Bangor.

The Waterville public-comment session takes place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Waterville City Hall. Lewiston City Hall will host another session at 6 p.m. Nov. 24.

"It's just an opportunity for people to tell us what their view is on it," Sharon M. Reishus, chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission, said.

"It's helpful when landowners express a particular concern."

Central Maine Power Co. is planning the $1.4 billion upgrade as Maine Public Service, a Presque Isle-based utility, pursues a separate $500 million transmission project to connect northern Maine with the rest of the state's electrical grid.

The three-member Public Utilities Commission must sign off on both projects before the utilities can proceed. The public hearings are a part of the commission's project-approval process.

Commission staffers have not yet determined the effect of the transmission upgrade on customers' bills.

Central Maine Power Co. officials have touted the transmission-infrastructure overhaul, along with Maine Public Service's project, as an opportunity to shift much of the state away from reliance on oil- and gas-powered electricity and to embrace wind energy generated in Aroostook County.

Maine's electrical grid last received an upgrade in 1971. Since then, according to a Central Maine Power analysis, the state's power use has doubled and the state's population has grown 32 percent.

Much of the population has shifted to the southern and coastal parts of the state.

Also, Central Maine Power officials note, the Maine Yankee nuclear-power plant in Wiscasset closed in 1996, eliminating another power source.

"With the closure of Maine Yankee, generation needed to serve the need in southern Maine is even more distant and dispersed, placing additional stress on the system," Central Maine Power President Sara J. Burns said while announcing the transmission overhaul in July.

For more information about the project, consult the Public Utilities Commission Web site at www.maine.gov/mpuc.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com