AUGUSTA,
Maine --Gov. John Baldacci said Wednesday he will convene a task force
to review the pluses and minuses of Maine's continued participation in
the New England Power Pool and ISO New England, which oversees the New
England wholesale electricity market.
Citing
concerns among Maine businesses, Baldacci said "the answer to their
questions is not immediately clear" but added that his executive order
would direct the task force to investigate options for Maine if the
state chose to withdraw from the regional organizations.
Baldacci's announcement came as he unveiled a legislative package of energy initiatives.
Elements
include one proposal to increase the amount of renewable energy
resources by 10 percent by the year 2017 and another to set a lower
excise tax rate for biodiesel blended fuel.
Baldacci
also said he would try again to win legislative approval for appliance
efficiency standards and make clear that state regulators may treat
energy conservation and efficiency as equivalent to additional energy
resources.
The
governor expressed his own concern that a 1997 deregulation of Maine's
electric utility industry is "not working as intended" for Maine
consumers.
On
the positive side, he said, the region did not experience severe power
shortages this winter, although he attributed a good bit of that to
luck in the form of mild weather.
"We dodged a bullet," Baldacci told reporters at a State House news conference.
Last
month, Maine utility regulators said they had withdrawn from settlement
talks for a proposed electric rate plan for New England, saying they
cannot accept increases that would give energy companies an unjustified
windfall.
The
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been holding talks for months
in Boston and Washington to resolve differences over the plan proposed
by ISO New England, the regional grid operator in Holyoke, Mass.
Overall,
"consumers are really concerned about energy prices," Chairman Kurt
Adams of the Maine Public Utilities Commission said Wednesday.
"Maine is a net exporter of electricity and one of the big questions is, is this relationship worth it?"
Four
years ago, the Maine PUC examined the potential for an energy alliance
with the Canadian Maritimes. Baldacci aide Beth Nagusky, director of
Baldacci's Office of Energy Independence and Security, said Wednesday
such a shift could theoretically be an option.
