No wonder Gary Maheux’s is angry at the DEP (“PFAS shows government should not run utilities,” letter, Feb. 20). What a serious situation PFAS have caused! Widespread assistance is definitely needed, and quickly.

However, Mr. Maheux presents an exaggerated connection between the PFAS contamination clean-up and the proposed consumer-owned utility. It is time for Maine residents to control our electric company. Currently CMP is owned by Avangrid, a Spanish for-profit company. That means this foreign-owned company is working primarily to make money for its investors. These owners seek profit over reliability at our expense. Perhaps this is why CMP is rated worst in the nation for reliability. Just as its name states, a consumer-owned utility is a company that is owned and controlled by those who consume its service. It is managed for the benefit of its customers, not for profit, dividends, or stockholders.

Maine currently has nine consumer-owned utility companies that serve 97 municipalities. Residents in these towns own their own electric company, which is accountable to its customers/owners. Their rates are lower, and their voices are heard. Meanwhile the rest of us captive customers suffer some of the highest costs and the most frequent outages in the nation.

Be watching this spring for an opportunity to sign a petition titled, “An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, a Nonprofit Consumer-Owned Utility.” To learn more about the proposed consumer-owned utility, check ourpowermaine.org.

Linda Woods

Waterville