Electricity rate option triggers skepticism, partisan charges

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 18, 2022

Some Republican legislators have charged that Gov. Janet Mills and the Public Utilities Commission is giving discounts to electric vehicle owners – but that other customers will have to subsidize them. Heat pump rates are not being subsided by other customers, the Maine Public Utilities Commision says. Tony Buxton, a lawyer who represents the Industrial Energy Consumer Group, accused Republican lawmakers of “trying to create a class war over heat pumps and EV chargers” by implying their adoption will shift costs to low-income customers. “Anyone who thinks heat pumps are class warfare probably doesn’t believe in gravity or other forms of science,” said Buxton.