Never mind the great ice storm of ’98 – do you remember the widespread power outages in 2013? 2017? 2019? So far in 2020, including about a week ago? Are you disgusted by the inability of Central Maine Power and Versant (formerly Emera) to keep the lights on, while Maine’s nine consumer-owned utilities have comparatively few outages during the same storms? Have you installed a backup generator, lost business, lost production or had food spoil? These are real costs to Maine ratepayers that are the result of Maine’s investor-owned utilities losing focus on their customers and instead chasing profits for their foreign government owners.
Do we know what those costs are? No, because the Maine Public Utilities Commission chooses to ignore the issue. The PUC has never engaged in a serious, deep look at the cost of these outages to the people of Maine. And even if the PUC did investigate, what would be the point? CMP and Versant have demonstrated repeatedly that they will not improve. The only solution is the creation of a consumer-owned utility to purchase and operate the entire transmission and distribution system in Maine.
So, what are these costs to Mainers? I would start with the cost of repairing the dilapidated investor-owned utility distribution systems every time there is remotely bad weather. These costs include equipment costs and the overtime cost of their own employees, plus the cost of paying, housing and feeding outside contractors, tree trimming crews and line crews from other utilities. Of course, it is the ratepayers of the investor-owned utilities who ultimately pay those costs.
But there are additional costs. There are the capital costs of all the “backyard” generators installed in Maine to protect residential, commercial and industrial customers from the repeated failures of the investor-owned utility distribution systems. There are also the costs of running all those backyard generators and the impact on air pollution.
For those business customers without backyard generators, or who have to shut down even though they have on-site power, there are the costs of lost business. In addition, there are other costs for customers without power, such as the spoilage of food, lost production, loss of internet, etc. I bet each business knows the costs to it caused by Maine’s first-in-the-nation lack of reliable electricity.
How bad is the outage situation in Maine? According to the federal Energy Information Administration, Maine had the least reliable system, with the highest number of outages in the nation in 2016. In terms of hours of outages, Maine was the fourth worst, at almost 10 hours.
Consumer-owner utility customers averaged one outage in 2016, according to the EIA, lasting less than two hours. The same year, customers of investor-owned utilities averaged about four hours of outages, which actually sounds good compared to the outage duration rate of Maine’s investor-owned utilities at almost 10 hours. Maine and West Virginia were the only states to make the top four in terms of both number of outages and duration of outages. And 2016 wasn’t even one of the bad years referenced earlier.
Is there a better way?
Yes, there is. Mainers can support the referendum to create a consumer-owned utility (not a state-owned utility, as incorrectly and repeatedly stated by CMP) to purchase the transmission and distribution facilities currently owned by CMP and Versant. Advocates have filed a request with the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, which has until Friday to rule on the language. If approved, then the petition can be circulated, signatures collected and the issue brought before voters next year. (The Legislature last session considered a similar measure but authorized only a study of the issue.)
The Maine Power Delivery Authority, managed by an independent board made up of Mainers, elected by Mainers and with a fiduciary responsibility only to Mainers, would focus on improved design, maintenance and expansion of the Maine transmission and distribution system. The cost of outages would, over time, be greatly reduced. And the board would not be distracted by trying to earn the highest return for its foreign government owners, because its owners would be its ratepayers in Maine.
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