I am the owner of a small, successful and growing business in southern Maine that is quite dependent upon reliable electric service. I have been reading there is some radical proposal for the state to try to seize the private assets of Central Maine Power and Versant Power and replace them with a nonprofit organization and that it could cost billions of dollars. How can this possibly be a good idea?

I understand that CMP had service issues with a new billing system a few years ago, but it seems they have fixed those issues and my experience with the company has been very positive. They come when they say they will, they offer good guidance about my power needs and my bills are reasonable.

It is hard to imagine that a nonprofit company will invest in the clean-energy solutions our state needs. With politicians elected to oversee the company making deals and decisions about how and where to improve the grid, we can only imagine how that will turn out.

I would guess that CMP and Versant shareholders are not going to simply step back and let the state allow the takeover of the companies. We can predict that we will be dragged into a costly legal battle lasting years while Mainers’ needs are placed on the back burner.

Hayden Stokes
Gorham

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