A version of this article was originally published in The Daily Brief, our Maine politics newsletter. Sign up here for daily news and insight from politics editor Michael Shepherd.
Politics has a way of escalating in a way that makes the old, big campaigns of the past look like mom-and-pop operations, something happening in Maine’s biggest utility’s battle to fend off a consumer-owned utility referendum targeted for the 2023 ballot.
That policy has been hotly debated in Augusta for years now, culminating in a 2021 veto from Gov. Janet Mills of a measure that would have sent a public takeover of infrastructure owned by Maine’s two dominant electric utilities to voters. A new entity run by an elected board would borrow billions to do so, operating the system into the future if the plan survives near-certain court challenges from the utilities.
The veto led proponents to launch their own referendum effort. Their group, Our Power, told supporters this week they have nearly reached a goal of getting 100,000 signatures from registered Maine voters, which is more than they would need to make next year’s ballot. But it has not made it yet.
That has not stopped the parent company of Central Maine Power Co., the state’s biggest utility, from spending heavily in a pre-rebuttal of the effort. A political group funded by it has set aside nearly $8.3 million to oppose the consumer-owned utility idea since forming last summer, with $2.9 million spent on digital advertising alone.
Those ads have focused on the upfront cost of borrowing. An estimate from the utilities has pegged the cost of acquiring the infrastructure at or above $13 billion, a sum the new entity would have to borrow against future revenues to pay. A study done for the state said rates could initially go up under a similar scheme but that they should go down once the utility is running.
While consumer-owned utility proponents look like a good bet to make the ballot, their financial picture has not been inspiring to date. Our Power has relied heavily on high-dollar individual donors in raising $351,000 through late January and spending more than it has taken in, according to state filings. Gathering signatures to make the ballot has been the priority, although it has gotten help on that front from the progressive Maine People’s Alliance.
That is a small amount when compared with CMP’s vast sum. It is also much different than the campaign mounted against the utility’s $1 billion corridor, which may be on its last legs after being rejected by Maine voters last year after a $90 million campaign. While CMP and its allies spent $64 million, opponents got $27 million that largely came from companies rivaling the Maine utility for shares in the regional power market.
Clearly, money was not everything in that race, but CMP’s opponents had plenty of it. It’s less clear where Our Power is going to draw financial support absent companies with direct financial stakes in the outcome. If they get to the ballot, they will have to ramp up quickly because CMP’s campaign has begun.
