How reliant is Maine on Canada's electrical grid?
With talk of tariffs and a trade war with our northern neighbors, the price of power has been on the minds of many Mainers, especially since parts of the state rely on New Brunswick to keep the lights on.
Cole asked the CBS13 I-Team:
“I recently saw your story about how nearly 60,000 people in northern Maine get power directly from Canada. If this tariff business continues, will customers in other parts of the state see an impact too? How reliant is the rest of Maine on New Brunswick’s grid?”
About 58,000 customers in northern and eastern Maine rely on electricity that comes directly over the border from New Brunswick.
They’re part of Versant Power’s Maine public district and a few smaller consumer-owned utilities, which connect right into the Canadian gird.
At the moment, these customers don’t have another option for electric delivery so any potential retaliation from Canada could impact them.
But other parts of the state could see effects too.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission says New Brunswick provided about 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity to Maine in 2024 at a cost of about $165 million for the state’s standard offer supply service.
While the standard offer supplier differs for each type of Central Maine Power and Versant customer, the majority get at least a portion of their electricity from New Brunswick.
Historically tariffs have not been directly applied to electricity, but the New Brunswick government says it’s keeping its options open.
In the meantime, standard offer rates are locked in for the year, but the Maine PUC says any potential retaliation from Canada could potentially change that.