Maine’s consumer-owned utilities: Fewer outages, lower costs
For years, I have checked on Maine’s 10 electrical utilities after every storm. It always amuses me that CMP’s expensive efforts to restore power are seen as newsworthy, while other Maine utilities’ complete lack of outages is rarely reported.
Disasters are exciting. There is drama in damage and distress. Good tree trimming, better infrastructure, and a more robust workforce is less salacious.
CMP often blames the trees of our Pine Tree State for their outages. But Maine’s eight consumer-owned utilities (COUs) have lots of trees too. Their membership even includes the Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, with a rural service area twice the size of Rhode Island..
Together, Maine’s COUs serve over 30,000 Maine customers in part or all of 97 municipalities.
When Isaias hit Maine, it caused eight COU customers to lose power. That’s one in 4,000. The same day, over 120,000 CMP customers lost their power. That’s one in six. By these numbers, CMP’s recent outages were 667 times worse than our Maine COUs.
The specifics vary, but the pattern is the same with every storm.
And their cost? Maine’s COUs charge customers 18% less on average than our two private utilities, CMP and Versant (formerly Emera Maine).
In sum: Maine’s local, not-for-profit, consumer-owned utilities keep the lights on longer, and for less.
When we consider electrification as our path to energy independence, let’s keep in mind that Maine’s existing COUs are already The Way Electricity Should Be.
State Rep. Seth Berry,
Bowdoinham
Help for farmers
COVID-19 is not the only challenge our farmers have to face. Climate change, with its unpredictable precipitation, rising heat, and stronger extreme weather events, brings even more uncertainty to America’s agriculture sector. It’s time for Congress to enact legislation that will combat climate change, and give our farmers the support they need to keep us fed.
I find it heartening that a bipartisan group of senators and representatives have introduced the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
The bill gives farmers technical assistance to develop practices that are eligible to access lucrative carbon credits markets. They will be able to get paid for emissions they reduce and carbon they sequester. Not only is this good news for farmers and for the planet, but also for us since forestry and agriculture contribute 10.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
In Brunswick and Bath, climate change has already made things difficult for our farmers. On Tuesday, local farmers concurred that the heat is stronger and lasts longer while the rain is more intense after a period of drought. Farmers would be helped by the Growing Climate Solutions Act while combating the difficult trends in the climate. Our own Representative Chellie Pingree is a sponsor of this bill in The House. Aware of climate change and its impact on local farmers she has worked to make this bill a possibility.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI, the ranking member on the committee a cosponsor of the Growing Climate Solutions Act worked closely with Mike Braun (R-IN) who said, “While farmers are uniquely affected by the climate crises, they are also a critically important part of the solution.”
Please let Pingree, Stabenow and Braun know that they have your support. Farmers deserve help in combating climate change.
Jill Standish,
Citizens’ Climate Lobby,
Brunswick
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