Maine Will Vote In November On Creating Non-Profit Power Utility

Maine residents are about to be bombarded with a public relations campaign aimed at saving the state’s two dominant electric utilities from being voted out of existence this November. Via The Guardian:

If Mainers vote yes, they will make history – endorsing a first-of-its-kind plan to create a state-level, public power company through a hostile takeover.

But the parent companies of the existing utilities are spending millions to try and stop that.

It’s a vote which experts say could reverberate around the country as legacy, investor-owned utilities are being challenged to decarbonize while state officials adopt more aggressive climate agendas amid customer frustration at high rates and outages.

“This is one ship they don’t want to see launched,” said Kenneth Colburn, a former consultant with the global energy policy firm Regulatory Assistance Project, speaking about investor-backed utilities across the US. “Because it could turn into an armada.”

If the issue passes, things won't change anytime soon:

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