AUGUSTA, Maine — The state’s largest utilities said Gov. Janet Mills’ accountability bill would create uncertainty and unfairly penalize them ahead of a Tuesday hearing in which utility critics were also lining up against the measure.
The Democratic governor’s bill would establish more specific penalties for Central Maine Power and Versant Power if they do not meet baseline performance standards and create a process for forcing asset sales if those standards are not consistently met. The utilities would also have to submit quarterly reports and submit plans for how to address climate change.
The reveal of the bill three weeks ago was seen as Mills making good on a long-standing promise to crack down on the companies after opposing attempts to create a consumer-owned utility and voters’ November rebuke of CMP’s $1 billion hydropower corridor.
But CMP and Versant Power and their major critics are finding fault with the effort for different reasons. Utilities say the bill goes too far and that the standards and reports could be wielded unfairly against them for costs and circumstances beyond their control, while opponents say the measure does not go far enough.
Central Maine Power couched the bill as being unnecessary, saying it has fixed the disconnection, billing and service issues that brought it under heightened scrutiny starting in 2017 after a fall wind storm. They submitted a lengthy report highlighting those efforts and some factors affecting their performance.
“The reality is we’ve come so far since then, and those problems are in the past,” said Linda Ball, CMP’s vice president of customer service.
Lawmakers probed if Mills might be willing to go further to rein in utilities. Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the leading consumer-owned utility proponent, asked Mills’ energy adviser, Dan Burgess, if the governor would be open to further amendments. Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, said she would need firm proof that similar concepts have worked in other states.
“I’m just not sure the evidence that exists that this policy will have a positive effect for our constituents,” she said.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission is being cautious about the proposal. Commissioner Patrick Scully said in written testimony that while additional powers would be welcome, the commission should be allowed to define its own standards and lawmakers should clarify how to finance legal work needed if a consumer-owned utility were to be created.
Even supporters said the bill needed more teeth. Beth Ahearn, a lobbyist with Maine Conservation Voters, said the legislation should set performance thresholds and the consequences of failure. But others said the bill would provide at least some kind of immediate accountability the state needs as electricity costs go up.
“This winter we’ve seen even more hardship fall on the backs of Mainers with skyrocketing energy bills,” said Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, a bill co-sponsor. “While that increase is not due to increases in the transmission distribution portion of the bill, Maine consumers see it as just one more insult to injury after years of being neglected.”