Calgarians miffed by high electricity bills might be surprised to know their tax dollars are being used to fund a referendum campaign against one of its US subsidiaries in Maine to the tune of nearly $10 million..Bangor-based Versant Power is the target of a ratepayer revolt to dismantle the state’s two largest privately-owned utility companies and replace them with a publicly owned entity amid complaints of poor service and egregious rate hikes..Campaign finance disclosures from the state reveal a political action group opposed to the ballot measure called Maine Energy Progress received US$5 million — all of it from Enmax — from April to June of this year. In all, Maine Energy Progress has taken in US$8.4 million since its inception, all of it donated by Enmax..By contrast, the grassroots Pine Tree Power campaign has raised a grand total of US$786,000 in the same period. The issue will go to a ballot vote in November..Enmax bought Maine’s oldest utility, formerly known as Emera, in March of 2019 for $1.8 billion, which was criticized by councilors and groups such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business..Ironically, Enmax is Calgary’s city-owned power monopoly and its sole shareholder..A bid to privatize and sell off the company was firmly rejected by Calgarians in 2001..The rationale for expanding to the US was to escape onerous regulatory burdens on this side of the border..Meanwhile, Versant is one of the worst ranked utilities in the US in terms of customer service and reliability according to JD Power and Associates..It’s critics are driven by the fact that Maine power customers have endured more power outages than any other state in the Lower 48 and endured the second-longest stretch with no power..Critics also complain Versant has sent out almost 30,000 disconnection notices so far this year while it seeks further rate hikes..Despite that ignoble statistic, Maine’s electricity rates are the sixth-highest in the US and set to go higher after the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a 40% increase due to higher natural gas prices..Another big increase was tacked on effective July 1 when ratepayers got stuck with the tab for solar power incentives. About 13% of Maine’s 700,000 residential customers are facing disconnection because they simply cannot afford their bills, consumer advocates say..Those same advocates say replacing Versant with a public power provider would increase reliability for customers by allowing reinvestment into updating and improving the grid rather than a focus on profits for “foreign” shareholders — i.e. Calgary ratepayers..“Seeing [Versant’s] parent company put $5 million toward trying to buy Mainers’ votes is a disgrace,” Pine Tree campaign manager Al Cleveland told the Maine Beacon. “Rather than improving reliability, focusing on customer service, or lowering prices, they and their parent company are putting millions in money and staff time toward buying political influence.”
