Backers of public utility plan eye Maine’s 2022 ballot
(The Center Square) – Backers of a plan to create Maine’s first publicly-owned utility company are taking their campaign to the ballot box.
The proposal, which is being eyed for the 2022 ballot by nonprofit group Our Power, would ask voters to authorize the take over of the state’s two largest utilities to create a new publicly owned power company.
“Maine’s investor-owned electric utilities have the worst outages and customer satisfaction and the 10th highest rates in the nation,” Wayne Jortner, one of the group’s petitioners, said in a statement. “The Citizen Initiative will give Maine people the opportunity to fix, modernize, and control the electric utilities we depend on every day.”
Lawmakers recently approved a bipartisan proposal that would have appeared on the November ballot asking voters to approve the creation of the Pine Tree Power Company by taking over the sprawling distribution and service areas of Central Maine Power Company and Versant Power.
Supporters say a nonprofit, consumer-owned utility would deliver clean, reliable electricity at a lower cost and with local control over the operations.
But Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the plan, citing a number of concerns about the bill, including its governance structure, financing mechanisms, wording of the ballot measure, potential for protracted litigation, the authority’s regulatory system, and delays in meeting the state’s climate goals.
Despite her opposition, Mills acknowledged that service by the state’s two largest utilities has been “abysmal” and urged lawmakers to go back to the table to come up with a better plan.
Lawmakers weren’t able to muster enough votes for the two-thirds majority needed to override her veto.
Critics of the plan, like the Maine Affordable Energy Coalition, argued that taxpayers would be on the hook for more than $13.5 billion for buying the two utilities.
Both Central Maine Power Company and Versant Power had warned that the plan could impact the cost and reliability of electricity in the state.
But Jortner said recent polls have shown that voter dissatisfaction with the state’s power companies runs deep, and a consumer-owned electric utility would “serve Maine customers instead of distant investors.”
To get on the ballot next year, backers of the plan must clear several hurdles including gathering more than 60,000 signatures of registered voters by a Nov. 2 deadline.
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