Money from New England grid operator could be used to promote electric vehicle subsidies in Maine
Transportation accounts for nearly half of the carbon emissions in Maine and expanding electric vehicle use would help the state achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gases by 45% in 5 years.
March 6, 2025
Stephen Singer Portland Press Herald
Maine could gain more than $2 million from New England’s electricity grid operator to help pay for electric vehicle subsidies through a proposal in the state Legislature.
The measure would allow Maine to use funding from one of several electricity markets operated by ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator based in Massachusetts. It is part of a larger effort to expand the use of zero-emissions transportation. Businesses that buy and sell electricity and are accepted as bidders in ISO’s marketplace auction can promote energy efficiency measures to help reduce demand for power.
Efficiency Maine, the state’s quasi-state agency that promotes energy efficiency, taps the ISO’s market and other funding sources to offer rebates to buyers of electric heat pumps. Legislation sponsored by Democratic Sen. Henry Ingwersen of York would extend that to EVs....................
Funding for EV rebates has already been budgeted at $2 million and ISO-New England would provide another $2 million or more in a 50-50 split between EV and electric heat pump funding of $4 million to $5 million a year, Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine Trust, said Thursday.
Low-income Mainers — those who receive heating assistance; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or food stamps; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; or MaineCare medical assistance — are eligible for EV incentives of between $2,500 and $7,500, depending on whether they’re buying a battery EV, a plug-in hybrid EV or a used vehicle.
If the legislation succeeds, Efficiency Maine Trust programs will increasingly focus on low- and moderate-income residents, businesses and government agencies that face barriers paying the higher upfront costs of EVs, Stoddard said. “The rebates really do make a difference,” he said.
Read the full article at at https://www.pressherald.com/2025/03/06/money-from-new-england-grid-...
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Comment
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 8, 2025 at 11:29am
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The operator is ISO-NE. It is an independent, nonpolitical, non-profit organization. Is the person from the Portland Press Herald saying ISO-NE is providing money to Efficiency Maine Trust, a political organization rooting for EVs.
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Comment by Willem Post on March 8, 2025 at 8:20am
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Those $millions are used to add more Democrat bureaucrats to government payrolls, to put Mainers in straight jackets
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The Herald is doing its usual shilling for whatever pet project Mills comes up with
A few million here and a few million there, and soon we are talking about 200 EVs that will change the climate
SUCH BULLSHIT
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Money from the New England grid operator, my foot. That money is from Maine ratepayers. Efficiency Maine Trust just happened to highjack it from us. Just like they highjack the RGGI money from us.
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Efficiency Maine Trust is a deceitful quasi-governmental organization run by a very deceitful man. He provided bullshit while speaking to the EUT committee, like EV purchases were growing dramatically since covid. He also said heat pumps and EVs which use electricity will suppress the costs of wholesale electricity. This is a plain lie. Increasing the demand of electricity will cause prices to increase, always has, always will.
We, as ratepayers will pay over $80 million dollars to prop up EMT this year.
Who, on a low income, is going to buy an EV?
Who, on low income with an oil furnace, is going to buy a heat pump when oil prices drop a dollar or more a gallon?
As we see our monthly electric bills rise every 6 months while millions of dollars subsidize programs that counteract each other. Adding more and more millions to electricity costs, we will realize we are 800,000 + strong and have the power to stop this madness.
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/
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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/
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