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This sort of thing can have a really bad failure mode. If the government is running the utility who do you go to if service is bad? Where we live, we used to

This sort of thing can have a really bad failure mode. If the government is running the utility who do you go to if service is bad? Where we live, we used to have the trash collection done by the government. That did not work. Trash was strewn all over. Trash was not picked up on time or at all sometimes. We had a change in party controlling things, and they contracted it out. The contractor does the work and the government proides oversight. It's been several years and this arrangement has been far superior during that time. Already mentioned in the article, the government, depending on who is in power, can have motives that are contrary to running a utility. To run a utility, you need to be focused on good service at least cost. Improving the physical plant costs sums that are amortized over decades. If the party in power decides to offload the cost of some agenda into the utility, it will have the same effect as raising taxes. California has the highest electricity prices in the country due to them doing this sort of thing. It would be likely much worse if that state also ran the utility themselves.

ipcress_file 3y ago
I live in British Columbia and BC Hydro (a government-owned utility, thanks to our right-wing Social Credit party, which bought out a private supplier in 1961) is the best. Service is amazing and rates are great. Apparently, government ownership doesn't have to be disastrous. P.S.: I know that a party called Social Credit doesn't sound right wing and does sound like a Chinese Communist Party plot. In reality, it was a conservative party run by a small-town hardware store owner. Don't ask.
brewtide 3y ago
CMP is owned by avangrid, whom I believe is a company based in Spain. As someone who lives in Maine, I can promise you that their services are lacking and they just raised prices 45% on supply side in January(ish) and are talking about a similar price increase in their delivery side coming up soon. They are also doing everything they can to combat people installing solar. Alsoz the past few years people have seen 400% increases on their bills, and CMP suggested to the individuals that saw this spike to perhaps limit their consumption, and stuck people with the bills. 2 years later oops, turned out our new billing system wasn't working correctly, hence the insane bills some people were getting. My friend had a $25 a month typical bill balloon to nearing $400, with nothing broken (ie hot water heater) and no change in usage. Many many people. The license plate on one of my cars reads Agorist, and I'm honestly STILL learning towards the idea of the state run utility, because AT THE MINIMUM, the state has to deal with the situation they cause if they fuck it up royally. Spain doesn't have to give a shit. It's a really terrible company to have as your power company. (The linemen / crews are all super nice typically, it's the corporate side of it that's a nightmare).
glenstein 3y ago
> If the government is running the utility who do you go to if service is bad? I also live in Maine and this part.... is not true! The Maine Govt would not run the company. No government would. It would be consumer owned. Meanwhile, the power companies themselves actually are in large part government owned: Qatar is the largest shareholder of Avangrid and Versant Power is directly government owned, by the city of Calgary.

ipcress_file 3y ago

I live in British Columbia and BC Hydro (a government-owned utility, thanks to our right-wing Social Credit party, which bought out a private supplier in 1961) is the best. Service is amazing and rates are great. Apparently, government ownership doesn't have to be disastrous. P.S.: I know that a party called Social Credit doesn't sound right wing and does sound like a Chinese Communist Party plot. In reality, it was a conservative party run by a small-town hardware store owner. Don't ask.

brewtide 3y ago

CMP is owned by avangrid, whom I believe is a company based in Spain. As someone who lives in Maine, I can promise you that their services are lacking and they just raised prices 45% on supply side in January(ish) and are talking about a similar price increase in their delivery side coming up soon. They are also doing everything they can to combat people installing solar. Alsoz the past few years people have seen 400% increases on their bills, and CMP suggested to the individuals that saw this spike to perhaps limit their consumption, and stuck people with the bills. 2 years later oops, turned out our new billing system wasn't working correctly, hence the insane bills some people were getting. My friend had a $25 a month typical bill balloon to nearing $400, with nothing broken (ie hot water heater) and no change in usage. Many many people. The license plate on one of my cars reads Agorist, and I'm honestly STILL learning towards the idea of the state run utility, because AT THE MINIMUM, the state has to deal with the situation they cause if they fuck it up royally. Spain doesn't have to give a shit. It's a really terrible company to have as your power company. (The linemen / crews are all super nice typically, it's the corporate side of it that's a nightmare).

glenstein 3y ago

> If the government is running the utility who do you go to if service is bad? I also live in Maine and this part.... is not true! The Maine Govt would not run the company. No government would. It would be consumer owned. Meanwhile, the power companies themselves actually are in large part government owned: Qatar is the largest shareholder of Avangrid and Versant Power is directly government owned, by the city of Calgary.