MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • November 12, 2023
As the dust settles on the Pine Tree Power bid, it’s time for Maine to bring the regulation of its electric utilities up to snuff. A thumping majority of voters last week rejected the proposal to create a new publicly owned electric utility that would have replaced investor-owned incumbents Central Maine Power and Versant. It would do a grave disservice to the state, however, to treat the defeat of this first-of-its-kind proposal as an endorsement of the way things are. Increasing the number of PUC commissioners to five, and taking exaggerated care to ensure that those commissioners come from complementary backgrounds, and new backgrounds, has the potential to give it the teeth it needs. The commission would also benefit greatly from the addition of in-house consumer advocates.