Maine power companies are spending millions to defeat a vote to dethrone them
Source: Portland Press-Herald
Posted 4:00 AM Updated at 2:38 PM
Maine power companies are spending millions to defeat a vote to dethrone them
This fall, Mainers could cut ties with their utilities. The companies are buying influence to try to stay in power.
BY TUX TURKEL, STAFF WRITER, AND MARIO ARIZA, FLOODLIGHT
Online, over the air and in the mailbox, Maine residents are about to be bombarded with a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign aimed at saving the state’s two dominant electric utilities from being voted out of existence in November.
If Mainers vote yes, they’d make history – endorsing a first-of-its-kind plan to create a state-level public power company through a hostile takeover. Supporters want to buy out the assets of Central Maine Power and Versant Power – which distribute 97% of the state’s electricity – and replace them with Pine Tree Power, a new not-for-profit distribution utility.
The ballot initiative was launched by a citizens group called Our Power. It’s already been outspent 17 to 1 by the parent companies of the two utilities – Avangrid and Enmax.
Together, the two legacy power companies have given $18.4 million to three ballot committees, which have received 100% of their funding from the utilities. The committees have spent $16.5 million fighting back against the existential threat.
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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2023/06/18/maine-power-companies-are-spending-millions-to-defeat-a-vote-to-dethrone-them/
Non-paywalled link: https://archive.is/HSU3J
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