Maine Voters Decide Fate of For-Profit Utilities Central Maine Power and Versant Power in Historic Election.

In the Maine election, voters have the opportunity to revoke the licenses of two for-profit, investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, which serve over 800,000 residents combined in a state with a population of 1.3 million. If passed, these would effectively end operations of the utilities and launch Pine Tree Power, a new non-profit utility. The utilities are known for poor customer service and the worst reliability with our electric grid. Critics argue that the utilities are owned by “faraway corporations” and accuse them of raising rates, threatening energy security, and causing countless outages. While this is the first time the question has been put to voters, this is not the first attempt to vote the utilities out.