Legislature ought to think about enacting the nice elements of Pine Tree Energy
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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He’s in-house counsel to quite a lot of companies in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
“Maine voters don’t know what’s good for them.”
That’s the gist of the response from some former Pine Tree Energy supporters. The quasi-governmental utility proposal was soundly rejected all through the state this week.
On Twitter, Reddit, and different social media platforms, keyboard warriors lament the initiative’s failure. A number of blamed spending by the “No” marketing campaign for complicated voters with “disinformation.”
It’s all bitter grapes. You may acknowledge the respectable elements of the proposal whereas nonetheless voting “no,” believing the general invoice was wrongheaded.
At a conceptual stage, treating wires like roads has some knowledge. Once you need to ship a bundle from Kittery to Fort Kent, you may select between UPS, FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, and different suppliers. On this analogy, they’re akin to electrical energy suppliers.
Whichever service supplier you select, they ship the bundle through government-run roads. Or, within the electrical energy analogy, by means of wires. The roads are the “transmission and distribution” a part of the puzzle.
If you happen to have been ranging from a clean slate, the Pine Tree Energy mannequin made sense. However the electrical energy slate in Maine was something however clean. Firms had made important investments in Maine beneath a regulatory regime that assured them a sure “affordable” charge of return.
Within the case of Central Maine Energy, these returns are paid to shareholders. Just like the Maine Public Worker Retirement System, or MainePERS. The federal government worker pension fund has a six-figure funding in Avangrid, CMP’s guardian firm.
Regardless of the bitter grapes of some “Sure on 3” supporters, the dialog is not going to finish with the poll field shellacking. Nor ought to it.
“Electrify every little thing” is a rallying cry for a number of left-leaning teams. A part of the motive is to fight local weather change. It isn’t a foul thought, even whether it is overly simplistic.
Warmth pumps are a way more environment friendly type of heating and cooling when in comparison with fuel-based techniques. Many instruments and small tools work simply wonderful with high-capacity batteries and brushless motors. Electrical automobiles aren’t proper for everybody, however for some customers they’re lots viable.
So as to improve electrification, we have to have electrical energy to make use of in our houses and companies. That begins with era, similar to photo voltaic, hydro, pure fuel, wind, nuclear, and others. That may be a coverage space unto itself.
But, wherever Maine goes with era, that electrical energy will get delivered through the grid. And our grid wants important funding transferring ahead. That ought to be the dialog earlier than the Legislature because it reconvenes in January.
The Pine Tree Energy proponents prompt {that a} authorities enterprise may entry new capital extra inexpensively than investor-owned utilities. That’s possible true.
There is a chance for the Legislature to take a while to discover a option to work cooperatively with our utility suppliers for brand new funding. The Public Utilities Fee was given better course to make the most of their “stick” in opposition to the utilities. It’s time to add a brand new carrot to the combo.
New main funding in our grid may happen alongside a brand new effort to entry cheaper capital markets. That cheaper capital may then be used to pay our present utilities for new-and-improved capability. The utilities may earn a good return as a service supplier, however possession may nonetheless land with some sort of public entity.
Doing nothing is untenable. Our utility suppliers haven’t carried out an incredible job in recent times. That isn’t a secret. They freely admit it and have promised to do higher.
Hopefully, they are going to.
Within the meantime, elected officers ought to have a look at the affordable elements of the Pine Tree Energy query. Regardless of the bitter grapes of proponents, a “no” vote on the whole bundle doesn’t preclude a “sure” on particular elements.
However that nitty-gritty must occur within the Legislature, not on the poll field.
