A historic referendum asked voters in Maine if they wanted to replace their privately owned utilities with a publicly owned one.

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.

  • frogbellyratbone_ [e/em/eir, any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    there's a bunch of california local public owned for electricity https://www.cmua.org/members

    i'm pretty familiar with EBMUD and SMUD. Way cheaper electricity, cleaner, local better jobs compared to the poor neighboring souls still stuck on PG&E for electricity.

    i remember SMUD tried to expand into yolo county back in like 2009? and it was copy/paste same from this article with PG&E spending the world to stop it, successfully. those idiot voters got their wish (or more charitably: got manufactured) and have been getting fleeced hard since.