Gordon Weil: Maine's wind power policy costly and unwise
Gordon L. Weil
Gov. Paul LePage's administration seems to be intent on reducing the cost of government and easing the burden on taxpayers.
With more money in their own hands, the theory goes, people can save and spend on their own priorities, and businesses can invest and earn bigger profits.
While the political debate is being waged over which government services are so vital as to resist cuts, the governor and Legislature should look at utility regulatory policy as a way to reduce costs for individual and business customers.
The governor soon will appoint a new member of the Public Utilities Commission and designate a new chairman of the three-member body. The term of Jack Cashman, the current chairman, expires at the end of March.
Too much policy relating to electricity has been based on the long-term view of what is claimed to be good for Maine. Customers often are forced to pay higher costs now for promised benefits later.
The payoffs have usually not happened, but even if they could be realized, they hurt. Maine already has among the highest electric rates in the country, and those high rates undoubtedly discourage economic development.
While the governor cannot dictate regulatory decisions, he can appoint a person with a different perspective from what we have seen in recent years.
So LePage should select a new commissioner who is committed to paying attention to the impacts of regulatory decisions on people in the here-and-now. To be sure, utilities will have to be treated fairly, but simply justifying their spending because, for example, it promotes wind power is a costly and unwise policy.
In fact, LePage and his advisers ought to reshape the energy policies set by Gov. John Baldacci because they are costly and unrealistic.
At the end of his term in December, Baldacci touted his policies of energy independence and offshore wind power development. Yet, accomplishing either will impose new costs on Maine customers for electric transmission lines.
What's more, Maine customers are not guaranteed that they will get any better rates for wind power no matter what it costs to produce it. That's not how the New England market works.
At the same time as he touted energy independence, Baldacci hailed the possibility of power from eastern Canada, claiming that, because Maine was essential to the success of new developments there, it would be able to benefit. However, any such new power supply, if it happens, is likely to be a decade away.
Besides, as Cashman later reminded a legislative committee, there's no reason to believe the Canadians will give Maine any special rates, taking less than they can get in the open market.
Maine should take another look a continued participation in the New England regional power market. The market operator imposes a complex and costly system on the region. And, if this self-perpetuating body errs, federal regulators allow it to collect the costs of fixing the mistake from the very people who were hurt.
Instead of waiting for eastern Canada to come up with a possible alternate regional arrangement, Maine could take the initiative.
Also, Maine consumer-owned utilities now offer lower electric rates. The governor and Legislature should make it easier for new ones to be formed. LePage would do well to have his own independent energy advisers look at ways to cut electric rates. The Legislature has erred in asking the PUC, a judicial-style body, to advise it on state policy.
Also, LePage's regulatory review should take a close look at the surcharges that have been imposed on utility bills.
Telephone bills are loaded with taxes and fees on local services. My phone bill has eight surcharges, at least half of which are imposed by the state. That includes support for Internet service in schools and libraries and 911.
However laudable these purposes may be, they have nothing to do with providing telephone service. They get tacked on the phone bill, allowing the Legislature to avoid paying for them with tax dollars.
Much the same is true for electric service. The charges are not so visible on the bill, but they are there. If anything, they are even worse because they are hidden. Once again, no matter how worthy the expense -- from low-income assistance to greenhouse gas reduction -- they have nothing to do with paying for electric service.
The governor and Legislature, an entirely new political regime in Augusta, have a rare opportunity to reconsider and reform regulatory policy from scratch.
Gordon L. Weil, a weekly columnist for this newspaper, is an author, publisher, consultant and former international organization, U.S. and Maine government official.
(From the 2/24/11 Kennebec Journal)
Please see this website's Fair Use Policy.
|
Views: 120
Comment
-
Comment by Dan McKay on February 24, 2011 at 12:38pm
-
Geez, the public advocate, supposedly the folks watchdog to excessive electric rates, doesn't write with half the intelligence of this man.
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
Not yet a member?
Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?
We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi
Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!
Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
© 2024 Created by Webmaster.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine