PORTLAND, Maine (AP)   The CEO of Central Maine Power is apologizing for an inadequate response to customers’ concerns about a new billing system.

Television ads that began airing Monday feature Doug Herling saying he’s sorry that the company “didn’t respond as well as we should have” to concerns raised about a new customer care and billing system last winter. He said the company is working hard to address the concerns.

The company was criticized last fall for its response to a powerful storm that left more people in the dark than the infamous 1998 ice storm. Then troubles continued with complaints about power bills that were double or triple what they expected.

A lawsuit alleges that nearly 300,000 CMP customers were overbilled last year, and that CMP failed to adequately respond.