PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 30, 2022
A citizen initiative to replace Maine’s two largest electric utilities with one owned by consumers has gathered enough valid petition signatures to get the measure considered by voters next year. Petitions for a referendum creating the Pine Tree Power Co. would supplant the state’s two investor-owned electric utilities, Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power, which critics have assailed for high rates, poor performance and customer complaints. Pine Tree Power would be a privately operated, nonprofit utility run by a 13-member board. The effort to force the sale of CMP and Versant’s assets is strongly opposed by a business and labor coalition called Maine Affordable Energy. The group is conducting a citizen initiative campaign of its own, dubbed No Blank Checks, aimed at forcing a statewide vote on most new government debt of over $1 billion.