Energy costs are hurting Mainers, businesses

High energy costs drive away business and raise rates for Mainers. We must lower electricity rates and home heating costs. Hello, this is Governor Paul LePage. We have seen reduced prices at the pump and lower costs for heating oil this winter. Many people confuse this short-term relief with the kind of lower energy costs we need to make Maine competitive. One problem is our electric bills, which are too high to bring new manufacturing jobs to Maine. These rates are also killing our small businesses. When more natural gas is needed to heat homes in the winter, the cost goes up for industrial and business users. Some mills cannot afford these prices spikes. That\u27s why they shut down and lay off employees in the winter months. It\u27s not just big businesses that get hit. A laundry owner in Brunswick wrote to me that his energy bill is 75 percent higher than last year. A woodworker in Boothbay says he can\u27t compete when other regions have electric bills half of what they pay here. If our businesses have to pay high electric rates, they cannot invest in new equipment or hire new employees. This is not the path to prosperity. It does not have to be this way. We have affordable natural gas right in our backyard. We have hydropower just across the border in Canada and right here in Maine. Let\u27s use it! Maine\u27s renewable energy policies are broken. They are expensive and ineffective, and they favor special interests, not Mainers. We should make our policies focus on two goals: lower costs and lower pollution. We should follow states like New Hampshire and return money from the regional cap-and-trade program to our businesses that are struggling with higher costs than the rest of the country. We must also help Mainers invest in more affordable heating options. We have made some progress: 10,000 heat pumps have been installed in Maine. But low-income households cannot make that kind of investment. We should help our truly needy get affordable heat. Once again, we will attempt to use $5 million from the increased timber harvest to help our truly needy stay warm in the winter. Let\u27s help them invest in heat pumps, install wood stoves or upgrade to highly efficient oil burners. For four years, we fought for more affordable energy options for Mainers. Legislators and special interests stopped us cold. This hurts Mainers. There is no reason for Maine to pay for high-priced, special-interest energy. We have the solutions right in front of us. Let\u27s make this the year when Maine finally chooses to get affordable energy for our residents and our businesses