Last October nearly 1,000 utility industry professionals from 100 companies descended on the Grand Hyatt hotel in San Antonio, Texas, for a three-day software conference. Donna McNally, a veteran information technology director for Central Maine Power Co., was there to tout her company’s new customer billing system. In a presentation, she told the audience how CMP’s new software, launched exactly one year earlier, increased billing accuracy and “enhanced customer experience.” Related Headlines Smart meter swap promised savings that never came What she didn’t tell them was that 2,000 miles away, back home in Maine, more than 100,000 customers had been receiving inaccurate and, for many, outrageously expensive power bills. Or that many residential and commercial electric customers never received any bills at all — until they were caught off guard and alarmed by shutoff notices. Or that CMP was now the target of multiple state investigations, plus a ratepayer lawsuit alleging corporate fraud over how the company mismanaged the bungled billing system. The Texas presentation was neither the first time, nor would it be the last, that CMP management misrepresented the customer service disaster that shattered the reputation of Maine’s largest utility. In late March of this year, CMP’s chief…