Janet Mills Said She Wants To Reconsider Utility Regulations. What Did She Mean?

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills used almost a minute of her State of the State address on Tuesday to say Maine should reconsider how it regulates utilities after spending much of the past year as a top defender of Central Maine Power’s proposed hydropower corridor. The remarks were a surprise in the speech, sparking some confusion from lawmakers and showing the diversity of opinions on the subject as Maine’s largest utility weathers public opinion crises amid an existential threat from some who want a statewide public power authority. In her speech, Mills noted dissatisfaction with the “regulatory framework under which these utilities operate.” She then asked for guidance in making sure foreign companies that run state utilities “are answerable to Maine, not to Spain or some other foreign country,” a veiled reference to the home country of Iberdrola, CMP’s parent company. “Let’s work together to ensure that Maine consumers are at the table, that profits do not take precedence over service, and that utilities are accountable and answerable to the people of Maine,” she said. Depending on who you talk to around the State House, the Democratic governor’s comments were a criticism of the state’s enforcement of its rules, support for a public power authority measure or an acknowledgement of how much power the major utilities have in Maine. Opponents of CMP’s $1 billion corridor proposal are aiming to put a question to kill the project on the November ballot.