Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
BUSINESS AFTER HOURS — The Southern Aroostook Development Corporation recently held meetings for business leaders to learn about the impact of Emera’s planned purchase of Maine Public Service Company (MPS). Among those in attendance were, from left: Brent Boyles, MPS; Peter Dawes, Bangor Hydro; Chris Anderson, F.A. Peabody, Joyce Fitzpatrick, retired businesswoman; and Sen. Roger Sherman.
Acquisition discussed with local leaders
By Jon A. McLaughlin
Special to the Pioneer Times
HOULTON — Maine Public Service Company’s (MPS) proposed sale to Emera, Inc., a Canadian electric utility, was the topic of a presentation hosted by Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development (LEAD) and the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation (SADC). Approximately 15 people attended the May 20 “Business After Hours” meeting and PowerPoint presentation at Houlton Regional Hospital’s Education Center.
Brent Boyles, president of Maine & Maritimes Corporation, the parent of MPS, and Peter Dawes, treasurer and vice president of finance for Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE), owned by Emera, were guest speakers for the evening’s event. Dawes gave a brief overview and explained how Bangor Hydro’s 2001 merger into the Emera family positively impacted their company.
Emera is an energy and services company with assets of $5.3 billion (CDN), substantially larger than MPS, the smallest traded U.S. utility. The majority of Emera’s annual revenues are generated by three regulated businesses — Nova Scotia Power, Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Brunswick Pipeline. They also own assets in New Brunswick, elsewhere in Maine, Massachusetts and the Caribbean. Emera is headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Emera officials believe there are many more business opportunities for the company within the Northeast region of the U.S. To this end, they purchased Bangor Hydro in 2001. Bangor Hydro is engaged in the transmission and distribution of electricity to a population of 192,000 living in eastern and east coastal Maine, an area roughly 5,275 square miles. Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
LOCAL LEADERS — Before a PowerPoint presentation on the proposed merger of two electric utilities, guests had informal conversations. From left are: Patrick Gordon, assistant district attorney, Rep. Richard Cleary, Walt Elish, Aroostook Partnership for Progress; Max Lynds, F.A. Peabody; and Jon McLaughlin, Southern Aroostook Development Corporation.
Prior to Emera’s purchase of Bangor Hydro, Dawes said BHE was not in the bests graces with the Maine Public Utility Commission (MPUC). They didn’t have the best reputation of being able to do what they said they would accomplish. After being purchased by Emera, BHE has made over $300 million in new infrastructure investments and now is once again held in good esteem by the MPUC.
Boyles stated that MPS and the region need infrastructure improvements and that a sale to Emera would give the Aroostook utility the much needed capital to make the upgrades necessary. For the short term MPS would be a stand-alone business and would run independently of BHE. In the near future, BHE may very well merge some BHE and MPS operations. There would probably be no large changes seen for the first year or so with some functions previously performed by MPS employees later moved to Bangor.
While Bangor Hydro is a member of ISO-New England, Maine Public Service is presently not a member and may, in fact, not become a member for at least the first couple of years. Membership in ISO was a controversial issue in discussions held last year about construction of a new transmission line that would connect Aroostook with the ISO grid and make all of northern Maine a member of ISO. At public meetings, concerns were expressed that northern Maine rate payers would not benefit from the new line and membership would only increase their costs for electricity.
MPS is Aroostook’s only county domiciled publicly traded company. Ultimately, the stockholders of the company have to approve the sale of the company as well as obtain approval from various regulatory agencies. All of this is expected to be completed by this fall.
A purchase of Maine Public Service could be beneficial to the utility stockholders. But, whether the same will hold true for customers remains to be seen. Issues about costs associated with becoming tied to the ISO grid are still out there under an Emera ownership. Boyles says MPS can’t enter into any agreements that could jeopardize its ratepayers in a negative or adverse way. Legislation passed last year may help support Boyles’ claim. But the MPUC ultimately determines what is or is not an adverse affect.
Time will tell. Look forward to more news about the purchase as the summer passes.