The form of ownership of an electric utility does not, by itself, dictate how well the utility is run. It is the senior management of the utility that determines how well it is run. In over 50 years of working in the industry, including work in more than 25 countries, I have consulted with investor-owned, consumer-owned, federally owned and state- and provincially owned utilities and have seen well-run and not-so-well-run utilities of all ownership types.

What we have here in Maine are two poorly run investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant, probably poorly run because their ultimate management comes from outside the United States. That is why Mainers have experienced well-documented worst-in-the-nation reliability and customer satisfaction for many, many years. Significant local decision making appears to be kept to a minimum to emphasize the flow of profits out of the state and country (see, for example, the July 2021 Liberty Consulting Group report to the Maine Public Utilities Commission).

Let’s see if we can have a better-run utility with local senior management and local decision making that does not emphasize profits over performance. Let’s pass the Pine Tree Power referendum in November.

Bill Dunn
Yarmouth

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