Maine public power bill proposed

The Maine legislature is considering a bill that would create a public power authority to acquire and operate most of the state's electric transmission and distribution systems. Sponsored by state Representative Seth Berry (who co-chairs the legislature's energy committee), with co-sponsors including Senate President Troy Jackson and Republican Senator David Woodsome, LD 1646 bears the title, "An Act To Restore Local Ownership and Control of Maine's Power Delivery Systems."

The bill would create the Maine Power Delivery Authority "to provide for its customer-owners in this State reliable electric transmission and distribution services at the lowest possible cost." The Authority would be a consumer-owned transmission and distribution utility, with the mandate to "purchase all utility facilities in the State" owned by any investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, for their net book value. (Currently, these utilities are Emera Maine and Central Maine Power Company; they collectively serve about 92 percent of Maine's retail load.) The bill would require the Authority to contract with a qualified nongovernmental entity to provide operations and administrative services.

Structurally, the Authority would be a body corporate and politic and a public instrumentality of the State and would be governed by a bipartisan board composed of 10 Maine residents, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Legislature. As a public municipal corporation, the Authority would be generally exempt from state income and property taxes, but would make payments in lieu of taxes to municipalities, counties, and the state, if revenues are sufficient.

LD 1646 has been referred to the legislative's committee on energy, utilities, and technology, which will schedule and hold a public hearing on the proposal. Nationally, 49 million Americans are served by public power utilities according to the American Public Power Association. While most Maine electricity customers are currently served by investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, Maine has several consumer-owned utilities (including municipal electric departments and districts).

This is not the first time that Maine has considered public power; proposals in 1956 and 1973 attracted much attention -- including a 1956 speech and publication by a Central Maine Power Company executive titled "Public Power, the First Step Toward Eventual Socialism?" -- but those earlier proposals did not come to fruition. Is 2019 the year for Maine to take this step?