Vote for Pine Tree Power

To the Editor;

Our current power companies have failed to do good for Maine people. CMP and Versant rank last and third to last in customer satisfaction, and they rank last for reliability, with the most frequent and second longest outages in the nation. CMP & Versant are government-owned utilities, owned by the city of Calgary, Canada (Versant) and Qatar, Norway, and some large banks (CMP).

Another option is a consumer owned utility. Nationally, COUs provide power to 28 percent of all Americans. In Maine, COUs serve 97 towns. CMP and Versant charged their customers 49 percent more than these Maine COUs. On average nationally, COUs are twice as reliable and have fewer and shorter outages.

A state COU named Pine Tree Power has been proposed. It would be a Maine utility owned by Maine people, not the government. It is not permitted to use state bonds or tax dollars, yet will be subject to property taxation. It will be run by an independent not-for-profit board with seven members, all elected by the people of Maine. Anyone can attend board meetings.

A referendum question, based on a bill enacted by bipartisan majorities of both the Maine House and Senate, will be on the ballot in November. Vote for your own good, and vote for Pine Tree Power. Www.ourpowermaine.org

Bob Lodato

Charleston