For over 100 years electric utilities in the U.S. have been structured as regulated monopolies where customers in any given location are serviced by a single electricity provider. This situation evolved in part because having competing utilities build redundant poles and wires would be both wasteful and impractical.
In order to prevent these essential service monopolies from harming captive customers with inflated costs or poor service, each state has a regulatory body charged with overseeing the utilities. In Maine, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) creates the rules governing utilities. The PUC is supposed to protect customers while ensuring the utilities earn a reasonable profit.
In theory, the PUC balances public and private interests. But in practice our investor-owned utility corporations exert greater influence on the PUC than the ratepayers do, often skewing this balance. The world of utility regulation can be highly technical, and while the corporations have teams of experts and lawyers who doggedly represent their interests in regulatory proceedings, the process may be confusing and inaccessible to ordinary citizens.
Our Power serves as a watchdog, monitoring utility corporation behavior and participating in the regulatory process to ensure the public interest is adequately protected.
We also engage with the Legislature and Governor’s office, helping them shape smart, fair, and progressive policy that works for all Mainers.
