MUUSAN supports a YES vote on
Question #3
to replace CMP and Versant with Pine Tree Power
We support voting Yes on Question #3 on November 7th because…
1) It will lower customer’s utility rates and make our energy more affordable for ALL Mainers. 
Yes, it’s true, your bills from Pine Tree Power will be 10 – 15% less than your current bills - from the start. In fact, Maine’s current consumer-owned utility customers (like Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative) pay 50% less than CMP & Versant customers.

How is that possible? Pine Tree Power will be a non-profit company, unlike for-profit investor-owned utilities, CMP & Versant. The $188 million in profit that CMP & Versant made last year could go toward lowering our rates, improving our service, and providing needed maintenance for our grid. 

Also – As a non-profit, Pine Tree Power can borrow money using low interest revenue bonds at 3%. CMP & Versant have to borrow private capital at 8 – 10% interest, and they pass those high interest rates on their debt on to customers. As a result, over the next 30 years, Mainers will save $9 billion dollars on their utility costs.

2) Pine Tree Power will be an important step toward addressing climate change. 
Bill McKibben’s statement on Pine Tree Power: “In our efforts to save our climate, the hour is late and the need is urgent. Maine’s proposal for a consumer-owned utility offers a model for transforming a nation and a world seeking solutions to the crisis of our era.”

As we transition from our reliance on fossil fuels for energy, we’ll need to electrify everything (heating systems, motor vehicles, etc.). To do this, we need a utility company for Maine that is economically sustainable, reliable, supportive of renewable energy sources, and controlled locally – not by foreign companies and governments.
Watch this important ad in support of Pine Tree Power and share it with others!

Information you can find on the Pine Tree Power website:

Do you have questions about this ballot initiative (Question #3) that are not answered at the website links provided above? Send them to jlinzee@comcast.net

Thank you – and we will return soon with more reasons why we are supporting a Yes Vote on Question #3!

~ MUUSAN's Climate Action Issue Group
MUUSAN is a statewide advocacy and public policy network anchored in our Unitarian Universalist faith and animated by its principles. MUUSAN welcomes as partners and collaborators all those who share our values. We link our 26 Maine congregations and many friends in an active legislative ministry.