BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 14, 2021
Tuesday brought an expected veto from Gov. Janet Mills of the high-profile bill that would ask voters to replace Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power with a consumer-owned utility. She cited unresolved questions about whether consumers would save money, the organizational structure and said the proposals advanced too quickly through the Legislature, with supporters of the bill saying they addressed many of those concerns and the arguments were weak. But the veto letter and the Democratic governor’s news conference were nearly as notable for other reasons: She called the utilities’ track record “abysmal” and then raised the possibility of the Maine Public Utilities Commission using regulatory tools that could force the utilities out.