On the premise that there’s power in numbers, three St. John Valley towns have put their heads together to battle rising energy costs.
Officials in Madawaska, Frenchville and St. Agatha hope to find a cheaper alternative through collaboration, with one potential perhaps involving a regional utility district.
Mainers across the state have been hit with rising utility bills. Most Aroostook County residents saw Versant Power increases at the beginning of this year, up to an additional $16 for most customers. The hikes hit the most vulnerable residents hard, and in a county where a quarter of the people are older than 65, the towns want a solution.
St. Agatha Town Manager Michelle Bernier said everyone has been feeling the impact of energy increases, but particularly elderly residents on fixed incomes.
“With the majority of us being in smaller municipalities, we found that collaboration is the way to go, whether it’s interlocal agreements or collaborations like this type of project,” Bernier said.
The idea first came about during one of Madawaska’s monthly “Third Thursday” events, in which town officials meet at a new location and listen to concerns from residents and businesses. Utility rates were a hot topic in April, which sparked the idea for collaboration.
While many northern Maine towns use Versant, some have their own utility district. Van Buren, for instance, has had its own power district for more than a century. This allows the town to offer rates lower than many surrounding towns. Van Buren purchases the power through NB Power in New Brunswick, which then runs through Versant lines to the Van Buren substation.
The three town managers started meeting in early June. Next, they’ll meet with potential stakeholders, and then gather public feedback.
They haven’t set a specific date for a public meeting yet, but Madawaska officials leaned toward a potential August session.
The next step would be to conduct a feasibility study to see if a collaborative approach between communities could be financially beneficial. After this, towns will work together to figure out how it could best be implemented.
Officials hope to fund the engineering and feasibility study via a Northern Border Regional Commission grant. The commission presents grants in the spring and fall, and with public feedback happening later this year, they hope to apply in time for the spring round of grants.
Madawaska officials emphasized that the effort is not about any predetermined outcome, but to understand the region’s challenges and find the best way of strengthening its future.
This will be a multiyear effort, Frenchville Town Manager Dave Cyr said.
“The need is there,” Cyr said. “Like everybody else, we’re faced with rising energy costs, and we’re interested in possibly lowering those costs.”
The feasibility study will show them how much this would cost and how much it could save ratepayers over time, Cyr said. By collaborating with multiple communities, they will have a larger user base than if they pursued this opportunity alone.
Though nothing will happen overnight, any relief for residents would be favorable, Bernier said.
“We’re always looking to help our residents and make things better for them,” she said. “So I think it’s a good effort.”
