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Private utilities are trying to tank Maine measure that would set up consumer-owned nonprofit [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-10-24  

Maine voters will decide in two weeks whether to replace the state's current investor-owned energy system with a publicly owned nonprofit led by an elected board.

The campaign to promote Question 3, Pine Tree Power, argues that a win would help pass environmentally friendly policies. Nebraska is currently the only state where consumer-owned companies provide all of the utilities, and Pine Tree Power notes that the Cornhusker State is trying to advance a net-zero carbon plan by 2050. "This is a definitive fight of 2023 as far as climate," a representative of the environmental group 350.org told the Boston Globe recently, adding, "This is a promising framework for other states to investigate."

The "yes" side of Question 3 has also highlighted how Central Maine Power, which serves 80% of the state, has spent the last four years in last place in J.D. Power's national consumer-satisfaction survey of 76 electric utilities; Versant, which is the state's other large utility company, has also fared poorly in J.D. Power's rankings.

Pine Tree Power, though, will need to overcome a massive financial disadvantage to win the majority it needs to pass on Nov. 7. Spectrum News' Susan Cover writes that CMP and Versant spent a combined $34.7 million through Sept. 30 to promote the "no" side, while Question 3's backers have raised just around $1 million. The only poll we've seen was a mid-September survey from the GOP firm Moore Information Group for Versant’s PAC, and it showed voters rejecting the measure 54-31.

Question 3 has the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, but the state's Democratic governor is firmly against it. "Question 3 will cost Maine people as much as $13.5 billion in borrowed money," Janet Mills predicted last month. She also warned, "Because Question 3 is a hostile take-over of our utilities with eminent domain, we are guaranteed to go to court and to be tied up in litigation for years, if not decades." Mills previously vetoed a 2021 bill passed by the Democratic-led legislature that would have advanced similar goals as this measure.

CMP and Versant are also promoting a separate referendum that would make it tougher for Question 3 to go into effect should it win. The utilities are advancing Question 1, which would "bar some quasi-governmental entities and all consumer-owned electric utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get statewide voter approval."

Cover explains that if both measures passed, another statewide vote would likely be needed before Pine Tree Power's plan could go into effect, while a win for just Question 3 would mean "the utility takeover will begin without delay." Moore's poll last month showed a 39-33 plurality supporting the "yes" side of Question 1.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/24/2201380/-Private-utilities-are-trying-to-tank-Maine-measure-that-would-set-up-consumer-owned-nonprofit?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=elections&pm_medium=web

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