MAINE PUBLIC • October 6, 2023
Maine's two largest electric utilities have spent nearly 44 times more money this year alone than the campaign hoping to convince voters to take over the companies' assets. The campaign committees representing Central Maine Power and Versant Power have spent a combined $17.4 million this year and have been funded exclusively by their parent companies, Avangrid and ENMAX, respectively. Both committees are sitting on $6 million in available cash, according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday. By contrast, Our Power, which aims to takeover the utilities and replace them with an nonprofit run by an elected board, has spent just shy of $400,000 and reported $56,000 in cash reserves.