Sue Inches’ opinion piece in the Aug. 30 Press Herald (“Iberdola proposal will affect grid, CMP customers“) struck a chord with me. Inches made it clear that Iberdrola’s plans to buy out Avangrid and take the company private would be a sketchy deal for Maine people. It is especially concerning for those of us who are customers of CMP and have felt the impact of decisions based on corporate profit rather than reliability and customer service.

This would be an enormous loss for public transparency, making it even harder for the public, reporters and regulators to hold our utilities to account. One hundred percent ownership by Iberdrola, one of the biggest energy companies in the world, would be a black box.

We are all well aware that corporate interests seldom align with the public good. The Maine PUC has a responsibility to fully investigate the implications for CMP customers, including low-income families and local business owners.

It’s clear that this $2.5 billion deal was not concocted with the interests of Maine ratepayers in mind. We need our regulators at the Public Utilities Commission to stand up and figure out exactly how ratepayers might be affected by the proposed ownership change.

Deb Fahy
Hallowell