SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                             Washington, D.C. 20549


                                    FORM 8-K


                                 CURRENT REPORT


                     Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
                         Securities Exchange Act of 1934



        Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): August 18, 1996



                           CENTRAL MAINE POWER COMPANY
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)




          Maine                   1-5139                  01-0042740
(State of Incorporation)       (Commission            (IRS Employer
                               File Number)           Identification Number)




                      83 Edison Drive, Augusta, Maine 04336
               (Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)



       Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (207) 623-3521






Item 1 through Item 4.  Not applicable.

Item 5.  Other Events.


     Maine Yankee outage. As previously reported, on July 20, 1996, Maine Yankee
Atomic Power Company ("Maine Yankee"), of which the Company is a 38-percent
owner, took its nuclear generating plant at Wiscasset, Maine (the "Plant")
off-line to upgrade the Plant's primary component cooling system, and in
mid-August was in the process of returning the Plant to service. On August 18,
before completing the re-start process, Maine Yankee elected to conduct a
further review of its electrical circuitry testing procedures pursuant to March
1966 Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC") generic letter to nuclear plant
licensees that was intended to ensure that every feature of such safety-related
circuitry systems would be routinely tested.

     As part of the expanded review process, Maine Yankee conducted special
testing on the auto-start features of the Plant's high-pressure safety injection
pumps and found a deficiency in the electrical system, although the involved
pump was still operable. Having found such a deficiency, Maine Yankee determined
that before returning the Plant to service it would conduct an intensified
review of other safety-related circuits to immediately resolve any questions as
to the adequacy of related testing procedures.

     Maine Yankee has informed the Company that although it does not anticipate
an extended outage, it cannot predict how long the review will take or how long
the Plant will be off-line. Since July 20 the Company has been incurring
incremental replacement-power costs at a rate of $1 million per week and expects
such costs to continue at approximately the same rate until the Plant returns to
service.


Item 6 through 8.  Not applicable.





                                    SIGNATURE



     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

                                           CENTRAL MAINE POWER COMPANY



                                           By: ______________________________
                                           D. E. Marsh
                                           Vice President, Corporate Services,
                                           Treasurer, and Chief Financial
                                           Officer

Dated:  August 21, 1996