Great to see the Press Herald covering Spanish energy conglomerate Iberdrola’s bid to take Central Maine Power’s parent corporation Avangrid private. This important story is easy to dismiss as just another esoteric corporate restructuring. But the ramifications for CMP customers and Maine’s economy are potentially significant.

The article quotes a recent Avangrid filing where the company explains why Iberdrola wants to buy out the last remaining publicly traded Avangrid stock: “As a privately held company, the Company will have greater operational flexibility and be relieved of the public reporting requirements under the U.S. federal securities laws.” Another way to put that is Iberdrola wants to do what it likes with less transparency and accountability to regulators and the public. Would that be in Maine’s interest? That’s an important question to ask when we’re talking about a state-protected essential service monopoly like the power grid.

Avangrid is asking the Maine Public Utilities Commission to simply rubber-stamp the deal without going through the formal approval process that would normally apply. As far as Avangrid and Iberdrola are concerned, the less scrutiny or questions the better. Why is that?

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. The PUC should carefully examine and evaluate Iberdrola’s proposal in the full light of day rather than allow the deal to proceed quietly in the shadows. As CMP’s poor performance record suggests, we need more transparency and accountability from our utilities, not less.

Ed Geis
Camden