Maine residents on Tuesday voted down an initiative that would have replaced that state’s largest power companies with a nonprofit, consumer-owned utility, The Associated Press projected.
The measure — Question 3 — was the highest profile of eight referendum questions on the November ballot, with owners of Maine’s two largest utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, spending more than $37 million to defeat the public takeover. That amount dwarfed the $1.1 million that the project’s main proponent spent, the Kennebec Journal reported.
The referendum posed this question to voters: “Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?”
A “yes” vote was in favor of replacing investor-owned companies CMP and Versant with Pine Tree Power Company, a nonprofit, customer-owned utility. A “no” vote was for keeping the status quo.
Question 3 ultimately failed, despite Maine’s utilities consistently ranking at or near the bottom among utilities nationwide for customer satisfaction. CMP and Versant are subsidiaries of multinational energy corporations Avangrid and ENMAX, respectively, and account for 97% of Maine’s electricity distribution.
Recent polling foreshadowed the referendum’s defeat, finding that 56% of Maine voters planned to vote against Pine Tree Power, compared to 31% who planned to vote “yes” and 13% who were undecided.
The vote is the latest in a multi-year battle over the future of Maine’s electric grid. Opponents and supporters of Pine Tree Power wildly disagree about what a public takeover would cost, as well as what it would mean for rates and grid reliability.
Opponents of the measure, including power companies, labor unions and Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), argued that approving Pine Tree Power would saddle ratepayers with debt and inject politics into delivery power across the state.
“The Pine Tree Power scheme to seize Maine’s electric grid by eminent domain would create a government-controlled utility—and we would all be on the hook for the cost,” Maine Affordable Energy, a coalition that opposed the takeover, wrote on its website. “The debt that comes with taking over the utilities—an estimated $13.5 billion—is more than twice the entire state budget. It could put us at risk for higher taxes or cuts to critical services we rely on.”
Supporters of the referendum maintained that a consumer-owned utility would ultimately lower rates, improve reliability and provide the local control needed to aggressively confront the threat of climate change and meet renewable energy goals. They also disputed that the acquisition would cost $13.5 billion, putting the price tag closer to $5 billion.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine, an environmental organization that endorsed the referendum, said ahead of the vote that Pine Tree Power gave Maine its “best chance for the leadership, low-cost financing, and properly aligned utility incentives we need to accelerate the clean energy transition.”