Voters in Maine yesterday (Nov. 7) resoundingly rejected creating a statewide public power system to replace the Pine Tree State’s two investor-owned electric distribution utilities, CMP and Versant. Question 3 on the statewide ballot would have created Pine Tree Power Co., a state-wide transmission and distribution retail utility governed by an elected board. The new public power utility would acquire all the assets of CMP (the dominant electric company in the state) and Versant.
According to Ballotpedia, with 77% of the state’s precincts reporting, the “no” vote stood at 250,204, or 69.25%, versus 111,090 “yes” votes, or 30.75%. The Portland Press Herald commented, “Critics said that because CMP is part of Avangrid, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a large Spanish utility, and Versant Power is owned by Enmax, a Calgary energy company, they are distant, unresponsive and send their profits out of Maine. Opponents of Question 3 say buying the two utilities at a price tag of between $6 billion and $13 billion would result in burdensome debt just as utilities need to spend money to upgrade the grid to confront the impacts of climate change.”
The incumbent utilities vastly outspent the Pine Tree Power proponents, $38 million to $1.2 million. As the results became clear, CMP issued a statement saying it is “turning the page,” adding, ““As we look forward, we must continue to modernize our grid to support Maine’s climate change goals, connect new renewable resources and electrify our communities.”
Lucy Hochschartner, deputy campaign manager for Our Power, the group behind the ballot question, said the vote was “just the beginning. I came here excited to be working every day on this campaign because I am terrified for my future and I need a utility that that is going to be working for me. That would have been Pine Tree Power. It is not and never has been and never will be CMP and Versant.”
Texans OK Gas Power Piggy Bank
Lone Start State voters yesterday easily approved an amendment to the state constitution creating a Texas Energy Fund to be administered by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to provide $10 billion for new gas-fired power plants and upgrades and repairs to existing gas generation, responding to the widespread failure of the Texas electric system in several weather-related challenges in recent years, including 2021’s Winter Storm Uri.
In the Texas weather emergencies, the state’s favored resource – natural gas – largely failed. The state narrowly sidestepped blackouts because of contributions from wind and solar resources. Yet the state legislature is doubling down on gas, including specifically excluding electric battery storage from access to the new fund.
According to Ballotpedia, “yes” votes totaled 1,640,624, or 65%, versus 886,566 “no” votes (35%). The measure appeared on the ballot because the state ran a $33 billion surplus in revenue as the legislature last met. The Texas constitution requires the legislature to adhere to spending caps built into the budget. Allocating the money through a constitutional amendment is a way around the caps.
The Washington Examiner reported, “Proposition 7 is meant to build out 10 megawatts of natural gas plants in the state, enough to power roughly 2 million homes. Under the program, qualifying developers will be eligible for a 3% interest rate loan from the state to build out thermal energy plants. Additional state subsidies created by the measure cover up to 10% of their project costs, so long as the plants are built in compliance with certain state deadlines.”
The Examiner wrote that the ballot question “sparked sharp criticism from environmentalists, consumer groups, and some energy analysts in Texas, who described it as a ‘giveaway’ to natural gas developers and an investment that comes at the expense of more energy-efficient alternatives in the state, such as battery storage.
“Others still argued that the Texas Public Utility Commission, the state utility tasked with overseeing the loan program, is ill-prepared to act in the capacity of a major lender responsible for allocating billions of dollars in loans and subsidies or to gauge risk for default on these massive, taxpayer-funded investments.”
–Kennedy Maize
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