Calgary municipal utility Enmax is dipping its toe into state politics in Maine after its subsidiary, Versant Power, became embroiled in a citizen referendum coming up in November.
The ballot question will ask whether Mainers want to dismantle the state’s two biggest private utilities, including Versant, and roll their assets into a consumer-owned utility, to be named Pine Tree Power, Global News reports.
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So far this year, Enmax has donated US$7.5 million to Maine Energy Progress, a non-profit that opposes the transfer, Global says. Pine Tree spokesperson Lucy Hochschartner said those funds are being used to “mislead voters” through political advertising on social media.
“I think most Canadians would be surprised to learn that this company that is supposed to be working for them is spending their money in our elections,” she told Global. “That’s not small change at all.”
Enmax bought Versant for $1.8 billion in 2020, and has received a dividend each year as the company’s sole shareholder. Now, customers are pushing back against high electricity prices and foreign ownership of their power system.
“There are folks that are very worried about the cost of energy and they believe there may be a cheaper way of providing that electricity delivery service,” said Richard Silkman, CEO of Maine-based Competitive Energy Services, which supports the change. “There’s another constituency that views foreign ownership of utilities as being something that’s antithetical to the way in which we ought to organize society.”
He added that Maine is starting in on grid upgrades it will need to respond to climate change. “The belief is that the best way to do it is through local control, local decision-making, local ownership, and the lower cost of capital that comes with that,” he told Global.
Versant has also devoted $5,000 per month to hire political consultant Tom Saviello, a former state senator who previously worked against the utility on plans for a transmission corridor through the state.
“As the corridor was winding through the courts, Saviello said he dove into the details of the takeover that has been years in the making and is being proposed by the political group Our Power, which wants Maine to buy out the infrastructure of the big utilities and put it under the control of an elected board,” the Bangor Daily News reports. “In the end, he said he decided there were too many risks involved. That was before he was approached to work for Versant, he said.”
The News says Saviello was a popular local politician who served as a Republican after previously identifying as a Democrat and an Independent. In his new role, “his job will be to speak to community groups and local political parties on behalf of Versant Power.”
The News says Versant has spent $17.1 million on various political campaigns in the state, compared to just $733,000 by Our Power.
