Don’t blame the meter reader.

That would be akin to blaming the FedEx guy because the price of the present he’s delivering went up, said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice.

The meter reader works for Central Maine Power Co.

CMP isn’t raising electricity rates. Rice wants to be sure people understand that.

“It’s the standard offer service that’s going up,” she said.

CMP only delivers electricity. It doesn’t make it.

Standard offer service refers to the companies that generate electricity. However, people are blaming CMP for the pending increase in their electric bills.

Rice said that’s because the Portland Press Herald on Wednesday ran a banner headline proclaiming “CMP raising rates nearly 17 percent.” Said Rice: “That headline was really bad.”

The story by writer Tux Turkel doesn’t say that. It explains the Maine Public Utilities Commission accepted bids for a new standard-offer energy contract. Because some of the electricity used in Maine comes from oil- or natural gas-fired generators, and because oil and natural gas cost more this year, the contract price went up.

Roughly 99 percent of CMP’s residential customers pay standard-offer rates for their power.

With the increase in the price of standard-offer electricity offset somewhat by reduced prices charged by CMP to deliver it, those customers will still see a jump of about 17 percent in their electric bills as of March. That will work out to about a $10-a-month increase in the average user’s electric bill, according to the PUC.

CMP officials were fielding calls on Wednesday and Thursday about the lingering impression that it – not the power generators – was raising rates.

“People are saying terrible things about us,” said Rice.