Taking a page from the 'throw-the-bums-out' script in politics, Maine residents are poised to vote on an unprecedented plan to rid themselves of the state's two largest electric utilities and start with a clean slate. The proposed takeover of two investor-owned utilities that distribute 97% of electricity in the state would mark the first time a U.S. state's utilities were forcibly removed at the same time.
But there has been nothing on the scale of what’s proposed in Maine in terms of taking over the service territory of an entire state, Schryver said. Nebraska would come closest. It’s the only state where all ratepayers are served by municipal utilities, but it didn’t happen all at once, said Mike Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, based in Boston.
But Pine Tree Power would face some of the same constraints as CMP and Versant. It's costly to maintain power lines, substations and other equipment across a vast, rural state. And, like the existing utilities, Pine Tree Power would have no control over the actual cost of electricity, which comprises about half of consumers' monthly bills. If approved, the proposal still may face another hurdle.
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