Platner needs better advisors on energy if he thinks the big problems with utility prices in Maine are insufficient supply and corporate consolidation. It's more about 1) storm damages being recovered in rates instead of taxes, 2) growth of net metered rooftop and community solar, and 3) state renewables mandate, as LBNL study shows (pictured below are 2025 and 2026 reports respectively). The latter two drivers are surely beloved by much of his coalition though.
From the interview:
>>> Platner’s plainclothes populism came through when I asked why he thinks energy prices are going up. On the one hand, he said, “People need more energy and we’re not producing enough of it.” But he added: “It’s that, connected with corporate consolidation and greed. These two things together [are] what’s primarily driving how expensive energy is.”
jae holzman (@jaeporeon)
NEW: In an exclusive interview, Graham Platner told me he backs doing “anything” to slow the spread of AI data centers.
He also told advocates in March that he’d support a national AI data center moratorium.
But it can’t be “a moratorium for the sake of being a moratorium.”
— https://nitter.net/jaeporeon/status/2054303250845667489#m