Props out to the Maine Public Utility Commission for drawing a line to preserve our collective right to privacy in rejecting Versant Power’s recent offer to turn over electric usage records as a way for police to target illegal marijuana farms.

Midcoast resident Heather D. Martin wants to know what’s on your mind; email her at heather@heatherdmartin.com.

The offer makes a sort of sense, I suppose.

Illegal pot farms have been popping up all over the state. And when I say “farm,” that seems too nice a word for a situation that, well, isn’t.

According to a report by News Center Maine, “Over the past eight to nine months, sheriffs’ departments in several Maine counties have raided dozens of homes that were bought, boarded up, and gutted all to grow marijuana.”

I have so many issues with this.

First, given that marijuana has been legalized in the state (as made very obvious by the dispensaries that have popped up in greater abundance than dandelions), I’m not even sure how or why illegal grow places even exist. But that’s just me. Please don’t feel the need to try to explain it to me, it is simply one of those things that will never make sense to me. Honest.

Then there’s the issues of the actual, physical houses.

I know that might sound stupid. But I mean it. We are in a full-on housing crisis – OK, if not “crisis,” it sure as heck is a “situation” – right now. Housing costs are climbing at neck-breaking speeds and the reality that there are houses, places that could become homes for families, being bought up to be gutted and turned into illegal grow factories insults my sense of what is decent.

Then, yes, there is the electricity. In an age when we are all realizing just how big a deal climate change is and that we all need to do our part in reducing the energy load, these grow farms are absolute gobblers of electricity.

Which is where Versant’s offer comes in.

When a home is transformed into an illegal grow farm, the electric usage spikes through the roof. Versant offered to report such spikes to the police so that they could investigate the property.

I’m sure the offer was well intentioned. A genuine offer to assist in the enforcement of our community laws? I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt at least, and I admit I’d love to see these illegal farms shut down and ended.

However, Versant’s suggestion crosses the line in so many places and intrudes in so many others that it is hard to know where to begin.

I suppose I can begin with me. Or my house at least.

During that last heat wave we had, my family just cracked. Our standard summer survival technique of hanging out in the basement during daylight hours was not cutting it, so my honey came home with not one, but two air conditioners. Yup.

I’ve never had air conditioners. I am an “open-window, fans-on” kind of gal. Until now. I admit, I caved. I protested for all of two minutes – approximately the amount of time it took for the cool air to reach me where I stood dissolving in a lake of my own sweat. Then I simply wallowed in the icy blast.

We paid a price for the cool air. The electric bill, when it arrived, was a doozy. I mean… wow. It was well over double the usual bill. It is going to sting.

I have to say, though, I was at least relieved that my largest worry was financial (and environmental) and not having to wonder if the police were going to come smashing through the door as a result of the sudden spike in electric use.

Now, I’m sure a grow house is a much larger spike than my two air conditioners – but the premise remains the same. There is a line between squelching crime and infringement of privacy, and the PUC did a fine job acknowledging that.

I still think there are areas for improvement, I still think power lines should be buried and we should get rebates for days the power is out, but in this moment, I want to send a sincere thank you to the PUC for stepping up to do the right thing. Well done.