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How do you feel when you open your utility bill every month? I’m guessing about the same as a bill from a health insurance company. I think the TV ads against Pine Tree Power are at the very least stretching the truth. Makes me wonder why there was little hue and cry when private for-profit companies took over Maine’s grid some time ago.
For decades they’ve made tremendous profits while we, the ratepayers, are on the hook. We’ve essentially been paying rent to them for decades, why not have a mortgage and own it. Do we know the people on the boards of these companies and do we have a voice there? No. I do know the City of Calgary owns Enmax which in turn owns Versant. I know when the price of natural gas went up, my bill went up. When the price came down some, my bill didn’t. As a neighbor of mine said: They don’t seem to maintain the lines as they used to, power seems to go out with almost any storm but the rates go up. Lousy service and high cost.
Those that claim we don’t know what Pine Tree Power will cost are falling for the premise it will be too much. There is an orderly transition in the bill, I expect that impartial courts will decide in three to four years and we could be on the road to lower rates and more investment. A Maine based non-profit responsible to us, the ratepayers, makes sense. What it comes down to is, how do you feel when you open the bill?
Phil Bailey
Hancock