The measure, called Question 3, prompted heated debate in the months leading up to the election. Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the state’s dominant utilities, poured more than $40 million into a campaign opposing the referendum, outspending Pine Tree Power advocates 34 to 1. Political groups funded by the utilities and their parent companies mailed flyers and aired ads on TV, radio, and social media, urging Mainers to reject the measure, which would have effectively put the two companies out of business.
poured more than $40 million into a campaign opposing the referendum, outspending Pine Tree Power advocates 34 to 1.
boy that sure sounds democratic and not just bourgeois power
Why is there even a fucking choice in the first place
“We are introducing a referendum opposing an act that would be in the best interests of the populace”
What happens when you fetishize absolute freedom I guess
And that’s while living literally one step away from one of the best state own power utility in the OECD, providing the cheapest electricity of the “western” world. Americans are a lost cause. 🤦
Hydro Québec. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t perfect. But they are way ahead of basically everyone else. 0.065CAD/kWh, while still bringing in billions in revenue to the state every year.
Part of the reason it’s so cheap is because they sell a lot of power to the US NW, in addition to contracts providing reserve power through reverse-pumping the dams.
But they are way ahead of basically everyone else. 0.065CAD/kWh
Lol I have to pay 0.37€ per kWh, literally two orders of magnitude higher.
On one hand I have an impulse to call the voters morons but it can’t be right, this level of propaganda is ungodly. What exactly does a power company’s propaganda even look like?
One of their arguments I believe was that it would actually be more expensive under public, because the cost of the buyout would be passed on to customers’ bills. That probably resonated even though the cost of the buyout was overinflated by them.
They put a large man in a hard hat and a flannel on TV and in a heavy Central Maine accent he said “Government run power is too expensive for us taxpayers”
The voters also killed a constitutional amendment to remove a provision that was ruled illegal in federal court 20 years ago and hasn’t been enforced since.
Edit: They actually voted against two constitutional amendments to bring our laws in line with federal law
funny how it takes a plebiscite the company is allowed to campaign in to create a public utility, but selling off a public utility never comes with a plebiscite?
tbf they did call a plebiscite for a similar thing to sell off the water utility in somerville nj, unfortunately our local DSA chapter didn’t notice it in time and started campaigning against it waaaaayyyy too late so it passed.
i can’t even really say anything cause as a member of our chapter’s RnR working group alot of that was on me.
Maybe next time there shouldn’t be a vote
