A bipartisan group of Maine legislators on Monday proposed that the state replace its two investor-owned electric utility companies with a nonprofit, consumer-owned one.
Lawmakers and advocates gathered at a press conference in Augusta to urge the creation of a new utility, dubbed Pine Tree Power Co., which they said would improve service, pricing and sustainability.
State Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, who chairs the House Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, said in a news release, “Today, the people of Maine rise to assert our power, and our independence. Our new bill, ‘An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company,’ will allow us to control our own money and our own energy destiny — to advance fast and fairly toward our own clean energy and connectivity future.”
Specifics of the legislation weren’t available. However, it would likely call on the Maine Public Utilities Commission to revoke the monopoly granted to Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power, and require the sale of their assets to the new company.
Such proposals have previously been floated in Maine, but this one may gain support from recent dissatisfaction with the current utilities.
State Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, said in a news release Monday, “Right now, foreign governments and foreign corporations own Maine’s major utility monopolies. This ownership model has been a disaster, leaving Maine with the most outages, the longest outages, the worst customer service, and among the highest rates in the country. Working together, we can do better and establish Pine Tree Power.”
The proposal is backed by a group calling itself Our Power, a coalition of Maine ratepayers, business leaders, energy experts, conservationists and others, according to its website.
CMP issued a statement after the news conference, saying, “If this bill were to pass, and the state’s electric grid was seized, Mainers would be on the hook for billions of dollars — $13 billion for CMP alone, with no guarantee of improved reliability or service.
“Creating a government-controlled electric utility would represent the largest expansion of state government in Maine’s history, and adding politics to power delivery only adds problems for customers.”
Versant Power said, “Maine is working hard to make progress on renewable energy goals and mitigation of climate change, and Versant Power strives to be a trusted partner in those efforts. A government power takeover will threaten our state’s ability to do the work our citizens demand to keep pace with an evolving energy landscape.”
Versant Power serves more than 159,000 customers in eastern and northern Maine, and is a subsidiary of Enmax Corp., owned by the city of Calgary, Canada. CMP serves more than 620,000 customers in central and southern parts of Maine, and is a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR).