Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have resulted in a state takeover of Maine’s two investor-owned electric utility companies and the creation of a nonprofit, consumer-owned one.
The bill would have replaced Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power with a new company supporters said would improve service, pricing and sustainability.
LD 1708, “An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company,” had drawn increasing attention since its introduction in April by a bipartisan group of Maine legislators.
Although Mills called the recent performance of the utilities “abysmal,” she urged the Legislature to take additional time to consider the impacts of such a measure and address outstanding concerns.
“It may well be that the time has come for the people of the State of Maine to retake control over the assets on which they depend for the lifeblood of our communities, that is, our electric transmission and distribution services,” Mills wrote in her veto message. “But L.D. 1708, hastily drafted and hastily amended in recent weeks without robust public participation, is a patchwork of political promises rather than a methodical reformation of Maine’s complicated electrical transmission and distribution system.”
She also noted that businesses, organizations and community leaders across Maine had expressed concerns about the proposal. Bath Iron Works, one of the state’s largest employers, opposed the bill, along with electrical union IBEW Local 567 and mayors from seven Maine cities.
In response, one of the bills supporters, Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, issued a statement saying, “This bill is the result of three years of diligent work and was crafted by a diverse group of legislators, utility experts, economists, conservationists and many others to meet the complex and urgent needs of our energy future. We wouldn’t trust a foreign-owned, for-profit monopoly to own and run our children’s schools, hospitals or fire departments. So why should we trust them with our electrical grid?”
It’s possible that the Legislature may override the governor’s veto when it reconvenes on July 19. If the House and the Senate vote with two-thirds supermajorities, Maine voters would then vote on the measure in a November referendum.
Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said his group was grateful to Mills for vetoing LD 1708 and opposed to such a referendum. “As our economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, stability and predictability are needed now more than ever. And decisions that have such a large consequence for every citizen of Maine, should not be decided by one sentence on the ballot.”