Contract and billing management has always been complex for Central Maine Power (CMP).
With more than 2.3 million joint use attachments and over 680,000 poles, maintaining accuracy and efficiency has been no small feat for the utility company.
Like many utilities, Central Maine Power had relied on a homegrown billing solution for years, but the outdated and hard-to-scale system was no longer serving their needs, leading to inefficiencies and misaligned contracts. The system also couldn’t handle proration, which pushed even more manual work onto the team’s plates.
Something had to change, so CMP turned to Alden ONE for help.
CMP’s billing system wasn’t just outdated, it was ineffective. Billing cycles took too much time, reporting was limited, and even minor contract adjustments required manual workarounds.
CMP wanted to do more than replace outdated software. They wanted to transform how they operated, improve customer experience, and, most importantly, to build lasting trust.
CMP envisioned a future state that would:
Replacing a decades-old billing system is more than a project. It’s a cultural shift. Teams must re-evaluate processes that no one ever questioned before, because “that’s how we’ve always done it!” They must adopt new ways of thinking to drive implementation of new technologies.
Embrace the change (!), and you can automate, simplify, and align billing with actual contract terms, and so much more.
Replacing any critical system comes with understandable concerns. For CMP, those included data migration risks, staff retention needs, and potential performance downtime during the transition. They also needed to ensure their joint use asset and contract data was secure during the project.
Debbie Brill, Manager of Customer Claims and Joint Use at CMP, shared at the 2025 Alden Conference that shifting to Alden ONE’s billing system offered a powerful opportunity to:
These benefits set the CMP team’s minds at ease, and made the challenges worth the challenge.
Recognizing the need for a more efficient billing system, CMP partnered with Alden to replace its legacy setup with Alden ONE, the business automation platform designed for efficient joint use asset management.
Their process started with three core steps:
This phased rollout proved critical. “Shifting to a phased rollout let us focus on accuracy, auditability, and user training before scaling up,” explained Brill.
The results were quickly apparent. As they rolled out the new system, CMP immediately saw:
The one major lesson learned, according to Brill? “Do a contract reset before you start. Understand what your agreements actually say, then design the system to match them.”
The biggest change for CMP wasn’t technical, it was cultural. Cross-functional collaboration improved, with billing, accounting, and operations teams working side by side. Together, they could effectively capture institutional knowledge and build it into Alden ONE.
For CMP, modernizing billing wasn’t just about strengthening compliance or gaining efficiency. It was about repositioning billing as a strategic tool rather than a pain point. “This is more than a system upgrade,” Brill says. “It’s a foundation for scalable growth, better customer experience, and faster adaptation to market changes.”
CMP’s efforts positioned the company to adapt more quickly, onboard new customers efficiently, and handle complex contracts with ease.
The transformation of CMP’s contracts and billing processes shows what’s possible when utilities embrace change with the right strategy and technology. And for the utility company, change equals growth.
“We’ve come a long way, but we’re just getting started,” says Brill. “The right system doesn’t just keep up with change, it drives it.”
Is your billing system not supporting your current joint use operations? Reach out to chat about the challenges you’re facing and how we can help.