Maine Governor Paul LePage says that restructuring has failed and wants to overhaul the state’s electricity market, according to the Bangor Daily News. He is proposing to allow transmission and distribution utilities to build and acquire generation assets, as they did prior to restructuring. Maine Public Broadcasting News reported that LePage said electricity bills are three times as high in Maine as in Montreal and suggested that energy costs increase rapidly, ever year.
The Bangor Daily News article stated that in 2014, Maine’s residential electricity prices averaged 12.66 cents per kWh, which was higher than the national average of 10.45 cents per kWh, but still the lowest in New England. Prices were 3 cents lower than New Hampshire, which allows utilities to own generation, and 5 cents lower than Connecticut. Representative Mark Dion, chairman of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, expressed skepticism about the proposal.