PORTLAND, Maine — If you watch TV in Maine, you most likely have seen the advertisements arguing for and against the Pine Tree Power proposal.
If Mainers vote yes on Question 3 in November, a public nonprofit would take over CMP and Versant, two private companies that currently hold most of the electrical grid in Maine.
That public nonprofit, known as Pine Tree Power, argues it would be a cheaper alternative to CMP and Versant, as the money would stay in Maine.
CMP is owned by Avangrid, which is owned by Iberdrola, a company based in Spain. Versant is owned by Enmax, a company owned by the city of Calgary, Canada.
Those two companies, CMP and Versant, are the two main funders of advertisements that are asking voters to vote against Question 3 in November, according to Maine Campaign Finance.
The money is going into two campaigns, Maine Energy Progress and Maine Affordable Energy. The two political organizations have spent more than $11 million in campaigning against Pine Tree Power. The two groups have collected around $27 million from Avangrid and Enmax.
Pine Tree Power, through money sourced by its organization, Our Power, has spent around $650 thousand to campaign for people to vote yes.
In one ad funded by Enmax, it argues that voters would be voting yes on Pine Tree Power, without the nonprofit having a plan on how it would operate once taking over utility control.
"I can't go to the bank to ask for a loan without having a business plan," Maine Energy Progress campaign manager BJ McCollister said. "That means there [are] years until they have a plan."
McCollister pointed to a subsection in the proposal that says if voted through, Pine Tree Power would have to submit a five-year plan for operations within 18 months of the November vote.
This plan would cover items such as setting lower rates for low-income customers, installing electric vehicle chargers, and reducing the cost of installing fiber-optic cables.
Lucy Hochschartner, spokesperson for Our Power, said the plan is set in stone, and any fine details would be decided by the board of advisors.
The board of advisors would form if Pine Tree Power is voted through. Those would include seven elected members, and six expert members who are appointed.
"The plan is to stop CMP and Versant from exploiting our communities," Hochschartner said. "The day-to-day on-the-ground operations plan is really similar."
Hochschartner said the operations plan would be business as normal for those already employed by CMP for now. She said the only changes would come to who is in charge of the contract workers.
So while there will be details decided only if voters approve Pine Tree Power, we do know there will be a board of advisors and there are promises made by Our Power, that give us a good idea of what this can look like.
Editors note: The claim that Pine Tree Power doesn't have a plan if voted through was one of many claims made by political groups both for and against the proposal for a publicly owned utility. NEWS CENTER Maine is actively working to fact-check as many of these claims as it can before the election in November.