Yes on Question 3, Talking Points

As we near Election Day - Tuesday, November 7 - we take this opportunity to encourage Mainers to vote “Yes” on Question 3, in support of establishing Pine Tree Power, a consumer-owned utility for Maine. 

ACTT formally endorsed Pine Tree Power in August of this year. This decision is rooted in extensive research into the ballot initiative - both the proposed structure of the consumer-owned utility and the financial details involved - and in our years of experience attempting to work with Versant Power on a community-driven clean energy transition. We strongly believe that a consumer-owned utility is the right choice for Maine. It is our best chance at an equitable and affordable transition to clean energy and our best chance at reliable, resilient, affordable electricity designed to actually serve ratepayers. 

ACTT has been delighted to see so many Maine organizations endorse Pine Tree Power, from Sierra Club Maine to the Maine State Nurses Association. In early October, the Natural Resources Council of Maine backed the initiative. NRCM’s position statement provides one of the best resources for voters still considering the initiative, breaking through the campaign on which Versant and CMP have spent over 35 million dollars by clearly outlining the significance of this decision and the many pros associated with Pine Tree Power while addresses many of the questions voters are asking. We encourage everyone to read NRCM’s position piece and to share it widely. 

Question 3 is one of the most important opportunities faced by Maine and an absolute necessity in ensuring that we successfully, creatively, and affordably navigate the need to transition quickly away from fossil fuels. In particular, ACTT emphasizes the following:

Investor-owned utilities like Versant and CMP are not designed to successfully navigate the transition to a decarbonized grid. This scenario will cost Maine ratepayers dearly and significantly hinder our ability to address and prepare for climate change. 

Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) are structured around a guaranteed return to investors. This structure de-incentivizes innovation as it prioritizes the wrong types of investment. IOUs will therefore hold Maine back as the state and communities seek to reduce reliance on both fossil fuels and an antiquated electrical grid. Maine will fall behind in the clean energy transition as our utilities overinvest in infrastructure that no longer serves ratepayers, as it is not designed with the clean energy transition in mind. In short, Mainers will pay significantly more for increasingly poor service and renewable energy projects will sit wasted, unable to successfully connect to the electrical grid. 

Consumer-owned utilities, on the other hand, prioritize ratepayers and are designed to creatively respond to innovative challenges like the challenge of transitioning to clean energy (very likely the most significant challenge ever faced by utilities). Learn more about this relationship to innovation within NRCM’s statement in point number three in the section entitled “Why Public Power”.

ACTT has experience this inability to innovate firsthand, as we encounter roadblock after roadblock when it comes to our own innovative projects, from projects as small as homeowner rooftop solar paired with battery storage that is unable to connect to the grid, to larger projects like cooperatively-owned solar, to even larger projects, like our planning process for a decarbonized MDI grid in which the single biggest and potentially insurmountable roadblock identified is the utility company. We have also experienced this inability to innovate at grid planning processes at the Maine Public Utilities Commission, at which our utilities have repeatedly failed to articulate any kind of vision, process, or proclivity to actively prepare for and prioritize working to build the flexible, resilient, nuanced grid needed to transition off fossil fuels and ensure energy resilience in the face of extreme weather. 

A consumer-owned utility will mean improved transparency and accountability, as well as the prioritization of ratepayers. 

Transparency and accountability have been abysmal under Versant and CMP. Versant is failing renewable energy projects at an increasing rate and providing no clear guidance to help those working to transition Maine of fossil fuels to better site projects for success. Nor are the utilities providing any clear timeline or relevant plans regarding how they will address the many issues abounding within the clean energy transition. Instead, they continually raise rates while service remains amongst the worst in the country. What’s more, the utilities are actively sharing misleading information with ratepayers, designed to make Mainers scared to support Pine Tree Power and even doubtful of the transition to clean energy. 

We need better from our utilities: we need clear, transparent information so we can partner around solutions and we need leadership in educational efforts to help all Mainers understand the incredible opportunity that exists within the transition to renewable energy. We also need a utility that prioritizes ratepayers and Maine instead of investors and corporations rooted outside of this state, with leadership democratically elected, accountable first-and-foremost to Mainers, instead of a board elected by the wealthiest investors with no requirement of utility expertise to serve. 

Consumer-owned utilities will be able to innovate and save money for Maine while doing so. 

Consumer-owned utilities have access to low-cost financing like municipal bond financing, along with other tax benefits. These financing opportunities will support Pine Tree Power as the utility innovates and builds out a better grid, one powered by renewable energy and one flexible enough to balance load and demand while serving ratepayers in the most cost-effective, reliable manner possible. 

The status quo is dangerous for Maine and Maine ratepayers and is unlikely to be addressed by policy and/or regulation alone.

We are, frankly, terrified by the prospect of Maine’s energy future under the current utility structure. Under business-as-usual, Maine is falling significantly behind in the transition to an improved, clean energy grid designed to be more resilient to climate impacts like extreme weather. This will mean increased and prolonged outrages and rapidly rising rates, as our utilities scramble to slap band-aid solutions on a systemic problem, all while ensuring a return to their investors. 

We also do not believe that legislation and regulation will be enough to fix this problem. Our current utilities are amongst the biggest lobbyists in the state, pouring tens of thousands of dollars into lobbying every year. All of this largely successful effort to control policy and regulation focuses, again, on maximizing the return for investors. In short, Versant and CMP have a stranglehold on policy and regulation in this state and the situation is not about to change. Utilities should help shape policy and regulation, but when they do so, the focus should be on responsibility to ratepayers. We have seen the utilities continuously fight policies that would increase accountability. Policy and regulation will not be enough to hold our utilities accountable and force change. 

NRCM’s statement addresses many of the claims made within the ads funded by Versant and CMP, aimed at frightening voters. Visit the statement to learn more about the likely acquisition cost and other financial aspects of the transition, to address any concerns about politicization associated with a consumer-owned utility, and for a deeper appreciation of why Pine Tree Power is not a risk of further delay in addressing the many challenges faced by Maine’s electrical grid today.