STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT
HANCOCK, SS. CIVIL ACTION
DOCKET NO.:
DALE W. HARDING, AS
PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE
OF THE ESTATES OF ERLENE,
IDA SPOONER HARDING,
LEROY ALAN HARDING AND.
PERCY LEWIS HARDING,
and
COMPLAINT
RAYMOND N. HARDING,
Plaintifis
v.
EMERA MAINE,
Defendant
NOW COME Plaintiffs, by and through counsel, and complain against Defendant as
follows:
PARTIES
1. Dale Harding is a resident of the Town of Bar Harbor, County of Hancock, State of
Maine.
2. Dale Harding is the appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Erlene Ida
‘Spooner Harding, by Letters of Authority from the Hancock County Probate Court dated May 31,
2018.
3. Erlene Harding died on April 22, 2018, domiciled in the Town of Bar Harbor,
County of Hancock, State of Maine.Dale Harding is the appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Leroy Alan
Harding, by Letters of Authority from the Hancock County Probate Court dated May 31, 2018.
5. Leroy Alan Harding died on April 22, 2018, domiciled in the Town of Bar Harbor,
County of Hancock, State of Maine.
6. Dale Harding is the appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Percy Lewis
Harding, by Letters of Authority from the Hancock County Probate Court dated December 6, 2018.
7. Percy Lewis Harding died on October 19, 2018, domiciled in the Town of Bar
Harbor, County of Hancock, State of Maine.
8. Raymond N, Harding is a resident of the Town of Bar Harbor, County of Hancock,
State of Maine,
9, Emera Maine is a business corporation incorporated in the State of Maine, with a
registered agent for service in the City of Bangor, County of Penobscot, State of Maine (“Emera”),
10, _Emerais regulated electric transmission and distribution utility serving residential
and commercial customers in Northem and Down East Maine.
11, Emera owns and maintains 1,265 miles of high voltage transmission lines and 6,090
miles of primary distribution lines distributing electricity directly to homes and businesses.
12, Emera has 159,000 customers and 52% of its revenue comes from residential
customers.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND,
Emera’s Upgrades to its Trans! n and Distribution System
13, In 2007, Emera conducted an in-depth study of problems with the reliability of the
electricity it supplied to customers in the Mount Desert Island (*MDI") area.14, As a result of that study, Emera planned upgrades to its transmission and
distribution system on MDI, including the construction of a new substation in Bar Harbor.
15, In March 2016 Emera began construction of a new substation in Bar Harbor, the
Acadia substation,
16. _InNovember 2016 Emera’s new Acadia substation was first energized.
17. Emera’s transmission and distribution system on MDI also included high voltage
transmission lines, lower voltage distribution lines supplying electricity directly to customers’
homes, and transformers to ‘step down’ the high voltage carried on the transmission lines to a
lower voltage safe and suitable for distribution directly into customers’ homes.
18, Emera worked to upgrade its transmission and distribution lines and transformers,
as well as other equipment, after the new Acadia substation was first energized in November 2016.
19, In September of 2017, following the construction of the Acadia substation, an
Emera representative publicly acknowledged the company’s need for additional new investments
in system reliability, hardening the system against storms, customer service and managing trees
near power lines.
20. In the several months leading up to April of 2018, Emera customers in the MDI
area were experiencing an unusually large number of power outages, including planned outages
for Emera to perform work on its transmission and distribution system.
The Dangerously Large Electrical Surge at Otter Creek
21. On or around early April 2018 there was a dangerously large surge of electricity
supplied by Emera over its transmission and distribution lines to numerous homes in the Town of
Otter Creek on MDI.