LOWER-COST ELECTRICITY

Our Most Critical Task: Lowering the Cost of Living and Doing Business in Maine

Maine’s cost structure is too high, period! No matter how many more millions of dollars we spend on economic development efforts, no matter how many state and local officials we send on trips across the country or around the world, we will not attract the kinds of businesses that will provide good jobs and higher incomes for Maine people until Maine becomes a less expensive place to live and to do business.

There are three big levers that we can use to do this – three steps that we can take that together can transform Maine’s economy. We must:

  1. lower the cost of electricity
  2. lower the cost of healthcare
  3. lower the cost of government

Here is my strategy to lower the cost of electricity:

Maine Energy Resources – Lower Cost Electricity for Maine

We have an extraordinary abundance of clean, renewable energy resources in Maine: our forests and croplands, our onshore and offshore wind, our tides and our ample sun. We need to be sure that some of these renewable resources are used to generate electricity for use right here in Maine, to lower electricity costs for Maine businesses and homeowners and to generate jobs and incomes for Maine.

Maine Energy Resources, a publicly-owned business chartered to operate as a public power authority, will use low-cost, tax-exempt capital to generate electricity throughout Maine from our renewable resources and will accelerate the development of clean and low-cost electricity in Maine. Maine Energy Resources will invest in energy efficiency in Maine and will enter into public-private partnerships with energy entrepreneurs. Maine Energy Resources will not export electricity out of state, because an important part of its mission will be to put the electricity to work in Maine.

Lowering the cost of electricity is one of the most important tools we can use to keep jobs in Maine, to expand businesses in Maine and to attract new investment.