In case you missed it, Enmax Energy Corp., the public utility owned by the City of Calgary, has poured millions of dollars into a campaign to persuade voters in the U.S. state of Maine not to vote to create a publicly owned utility to take over generation and distribution of electricity.
So while Albertans are battered by outlandish jumps in electricity prices here in Wildrose Country, a group of citizens of the Pine Tree State on the other side of the continent have mounted a popular campaign to use Maine’s citizen initiative legislation to create a public not-for-profit state-wide utility.
It’s a David-and-Goliath fight, with supporters of the proposed Pine Tree Power Company cast in the role of David.
Enmax, which spent $1.8 billion in 2020 to buy Maine’s Versant Power, and Spain’s Iberdrola SA, which owns Central Maine Power, play Goliath in this drama.
According to a filing with the Maine Ethics Commission, Enmax has now committed $8.4 million US ($11.4 million Cdn) to support a Political Action Committee called Maine Energy Progress to squelch the drive for a publicly owned and run utility.
The Ballotpedia web page says Maine Energy Progress, which was set up by Enmax and Versant, and another PAC called Maine Affordable Energy have together raised $27.5 million to fight the initiative.
Ballotpedia says a pro-initiative PAC called Our Power, meanwhile, has raised $840,000.
But while Pine Tree Power supporters’ financial resources may be tiny, their grassroots campaign has succeeded in getting the initiative onto a state ballot on November 7. They collected more than 80,000 signatures last year, well over the 63,000 required.
The approved question reads: “Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?”
And polling last spring by the Bangor Daily News suggests Mainers are roughly split on the initiative, with a significant number of undecided voters. Polling in March and April of 650 state residents, partly by phone and partly online, showed 41 per cent intended to support the initiative, 40 per cent planned to vote no, and 19 per cent were undecided.
The Our Power Maine campaign has also attracted some powerful voices of support. Best known in Canada, probably, is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who said “Mainers are facing price-gouging and immoral disconnection notices from multinational utility companies.” (Our Power Maine says power companies disconnected 90,000 ratepayers this year, 10 per cent of the state’s ratepayers.)
“Power belongs in the hands of the people, not greedy corporations,” Mr. Sanders said. “Fortunately, Mainers have a rare chance to take control of an important part of their daily lives. Instead of a private power system that last year sent $187 million in profits out of the country, Mainers can have cheaper, more reliable power—and help fight climate change at the same time.”
“We have in Maine some of the worst utility companies in the nation,” says a Pine Tree Power supporter on the campaign’s Facebook page. “Utilities that are consistently lobbying against and delaying clean energy.”
According to the Our Power Maine website, state residents pay 49 per cent more on average for residential service than do customers of the state’s existing consumer-owned utilities. “Maine ratepayers stand to save over $9 billion over 30 years by replacing CMP and Versant with a consumer-owned utility,” the pro-initiative site says.
Meanwhile, the Enmax-financed Maine Energy Progress website sternly warns that “a government controlled utility company is a risk Mainers can’t afford.”
“Ratepayers would take on $13.5 billion in debt with no plan to lower rates, improve reliability, or fight climate change,” the PAC site continues.
Readers will recall that Enmax got its start as the City of Calgary Electric System. In 1996, Calgary City Council approved a scheme to make the city’s electric system a wholly owned subsidiary of Enmax starting in 1998.
Enmax was structured as a private company owned 100 per cent by the city. The goal appears to have been to comply with the Texas-style deregulation of Alberta’s energy market in 2000 by the government of premier Ralph Klein, a former mayor of Calgary.
As noted in this space yesterday, according to the Globe and Mail, Alberta’s deregulation legislation was influenced by a lobbyist for Enron Corp., the Houston-based energy distribution company that collapsed a year later in scandal, criminal charges, and bankruptcy.
Last month, Calgary City Council supported Enmax, describing the company’s Maine campaign as a cost of doing business and an effort to protect the city’s investment. Enmax told Global News at the time it expects to be compensated for Versant’s full market value in the event its side loses the vote.
Manitoba Law Society permanently bars John Carpay from practicing law in the province
Winnipeg news media reported yesterday that the Manitoba Law Society has barred John Carpay, president of the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, and JCCF lawyer Randal Jay Cameron from ever practicing law in the province again.
The lawyers were also fined $5,000 each after they admitted to a Law Society hearing that they hired a private detective to follow the chief justice of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, who was hearing a case in 2021 in which they represented a group of churches opposed to COVID-19 pandemic public health orders.
Mr. Carpay also faces criminal charges stemming from the same events. It is unknown what the Law Society of Alberta proposes to do, if anything, about the two Alberta lawyers’ conduct.
Isn’t it ironic? I suppose Enmax is a publicly owned utility in Calgary, but outside the boundaries it is just another large self interested corporation, disconnected from and with no responsibility to Maine voters.
I suspect the voters in Maine want a publicly owned utility for similar reasons Calgary voters did in the past. Large companies are not that interested in serving a small market well and being a monopoly gives them a lot of power to gouge customers and maximize profits for their shareholders. In any event, it sounds like it could be a close outcome there.
I suppose for the time being Mr. Carpay will have to stay away from practising law in Manitoba. Presumably he can continue to do in Alberta for now, not sure if the Manitoba decision have an impact on that at some point in the future.
Dave: Enmax’s corporate status is complicated and somewhat confusing, I believe intentionally so. It is a private company, which operates public infrastructure, and is wholly owned by a public entity, the City of Calgary. In my opinion, this is quite improper. Public assets should be publicly managed and publicly accountable. Also, in my opinion, this was done for improper reasons, first to take advantage of a deregulation scheme that is to no one’s benefit except a few parasitical operators, and second, I have no doubt, to set the stage for eventual privatization of the city of Calgary electrical system. As such, it should be reintegrated back into the city of Calgary, where it belongs, run capably in the public interest by public officials for a couple of hundred thousand a year instead of the extreme and wasteful salaries paid to corporate bosses ($3.8 million for 10 months work for Enmax’s previous CEO), and unload its foreign corporate entanglements, to borrow a thought from George Washington. Perhaps in the unlikely event the Pine Tree Power advocates win their vote and realize their ambitions, this part at least will be thrust upon Enmax. One can only hope, and hope as well that it doesn’t end up in executive pockets in the form of bonuses, which would be tantamount to theft. DJC
“Power belongs in the hands of the people, not greedy corporations,” Mr. Sanders said. That should the prevailing wisdom…
Jeez, what’s coming outta Albaturda these days is like a chapter in a fictional story set in Mordor, Or a Steven King novel. It’s pure evil!
Isn’t it amazing how these phoney conservatives, Reformers, can attract all these criminals with lawyers included , involved with their party. I told a lawyer, to his face, about 50 years ago that I thought many lawyers were nothing more than trained liars and much to my surprise he agreed that many were. Even some who worked for me as a banker I felt couldn’t be trusted. It’s time for these fools to start believing the laws and stop ignoring them. These two got exactly what they deserve and let’s hope Alberta kicks them out also.
Alan K. Spiller: You know how it goes. These phony Conservatives and Reformers are only there to make their corporate friends richer, while everyone else suffers. We certainly didn’t see this stupidity under Peter Lougheed.
So Enmax uses the profits made by gouging Albertans in its attempt to destroy the democratic process in Maine: nothing to see here. Certainly there is no accountability to the citizens of Calgary.
So many right wing lawyers, so few with any respect for the law. To think that the citizens of Alberta provide free overnight accommodation in the arrest processing facility and even a free city bus ticket for such people!
Justice for Mr. Carpay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 5k fine is nothing, revoking his law license is something. Don’t stop now though!
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
Enmax’s position on the Maine initiative is unconscionable. Enmax should not be owning for-profit companies in another country. Spending money to try to defeat the development of a pubic utility is improper.
Enmax should behave as a public utility, not as a private company.
In addition to the situation mentioned by DJC in the comments, there is the case of Gary Holden. Holden, the Chairman of Enmax, resigned after he received, as part of a business trip, an all-expenses paid trip to the Grand Prix from SAP, a company which did business with Enmax. Although the chairman of the Enmax board apparently agreed to the Grand Prix trip, Holden did not report it as required by Enmax. I think we were all surprised to find out the high salary of the CEO of Enmax. In addition, since the Grand Prix trip was sort of within the Enamx rules, Enmax paid Holden his $4.6 million severance pay.
These kinds of salaries and bonuses and severance pay should not be part of agreements for CEOs of Enmax.
As DJC says, Enmax should be reintegrated into the City and should be operated by public servants.
Citizens should not be paying for Enmax to be run like a private for-profit corporation with exorbitant salaries and benefits paid to the CEO, especially since these salaries and benefits far exceed those paid to CEOs of private for-profit corporations with operations about the same size as Enmax.
So Enmax is trying to gouge Albertans (along with the other generators, with a huge assist from the UCP government), while also trying to protect its ability to gouge customers in Maine—using, in part, money raised by gouging Albertans.
I’d say it’s ironic, but instead it just seems inevitable. Enmax USED TO BE a public utility. It used to ACT LIKE a public utility. That’s why, in the ‘90s or so, private power generators bitched to the Klein government to impose an income tax-by-another-name on Enmax, to “level the playing field.”(1) Some time in the early ‘00s Enmax must have had a change of management. The company started to act like a for-profit company. Remember when Enmax offered a $100 per year discount for customers who signed up for both electricity and natural gas billing? Gone. Fini. No more!
With that history, I’d say Enmax’s current machinations are merely expected. After all, they don’t give Albertans a break. Why bother with Mainers? It’s just business as usual.
Heck, Epcor isn’t much better. It’s a private corporation, now a multi-national, that happens to be owned by the City of Edmonton. At least in its early days, Epcor was innovative and not afraid to spend on new capital investment. That’s how Edmonton got one of the best water-treatment facilities in North America. Remember the bad smell that used to come from the water taps in the spring? Epcor upgraded the water treatment to include more filtration (no more “beaver fever”!) and UV sterilization.
Now? Just another private company. Like Enmax.
Now, on to John Carpay. The JCCF is one of those far-right “we know our rights” groups that believes laws are for the Other Guys. This is a rare case of comeuppance for the “Don’t tell me what to do” crowd. If only the Law Society of Alberta would yank his license here….(2)
(1) A phrase much beloved by CEOs who believe “level” means “tipped in my favour.”
(2) Does this mean Danielle Smith will intervene with the Manitoba Law Society to have Carpay reinstated? Or has her wrist been slapped firmly enough to discourage her?
Mike: Interesting thought. Maybe Sovereignty means “we’re sovereign over YOU, Manitoba!” DJC
Mike J Danysh: If I am not mistaken, former Alberta PC MLAs, who were cabinet ministers under Ralph Klein’s leadership, sit on various types of boards. Their influence is not that great.
Mike — another irony of the level playing field, is when you don’t know who the CEO is and call them out on the ridiculous pay raises that they got, they get very defensive and intimidating. Telling me I could be fired, didn’t change my mind, lol
Carpay can no long practice law in Manitoba. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Now if only someone could light a fire under The Law Society of Alberta. I am not going to hold my breath, though. Look how long it took for The Alberta Law Society to deal with Ezra Levant.
JE: In the end they didn’t really deal with him. He submitted a resignation application and they accepted it. DJC
As far as I’m concerned Carpay should lose the ability to practice law anywhere. Perhaps his voice would carry less weight without “lawyer” in his title. Just another RWNJ windbag. That said, he could possibly do more damage as a so-called private citizen, unafraid to spew whatever poison he sees fit with the threat of disbarment gone
re” Mr Carpay…United Calgary Party’s version of Rudy Giuliani ??…only thing missing in the pic was the leaking oil. Do we know if Mr Wilson of JCCF is still on payroll for Dani ; what with Tyler and Kaycee gone— her legal advice team got cut down in the election.
Ironic that the CONservatives in NS privatized Nova Scotia Power in the 90’s.
excerpt from the” Huddle ”
“To this day, the decision to privatize NSP in the 1990’s is a controversial one across the province. For many electricity should not be in the hands of a private entity that has a monopoly on it for profit. For others it was a decision that robbed the Nova Scotia taxpayers of a giant revenue stream. ”
Interstingly NSP- now Emera** was/is supplying power to Maine . At times like this, I wish I had a spreadsheet ,because it seems nowadays that if you follow the dots, you’ll usually end up at another large “corporation ” ,with who knows how many subsidiaries .
(**utilities in the Caribbean and Florida)
Just talked to my sister; our power bills pretty close in kWh, yet her total bill was more than double what one was. Those “service charges ” because the billing company is in Texas is beyond belief— and it’s stuff like that, that would account for the reaction of people in Maine. The Vulture Capitalists seem to believe that Canadian’s are ‘too nice’ , ie: plum ripe for the picking, and how many of those companies that we think are “Canadian “, are just pinned with the leaf.
The only time I’ve seen push back, was Target brazenly saying that they had spent $200k to do a study and found Canadians will quietly/willingly pay more for their products, so they set higher prices. The store here didn’t make it a year…I’ve boycotted dq for 20+yrs, and pretty soon Galen and his “hand tossed in Italy ” company are going to lose a few more customers.
It’s like voting, 1+1+1+1…..
And FWIW— the discrepancy on the timeline for the so-called moratorium on renewables— going by being stung on shares in a new company, back in my naive days in Calgary, I’m going with insider trading and would be checking the boards. But then, I’ve gotten cynical,
and as stated, answers are usually pretty simple. If you know your target, just follow the money…..
There are basic items like phone, water, electricity, heat, education, health care and housing that should be available and affordable for everyone. All these items should be run as not for profit and basic universal services for all citizens.