A worker installs a heat pump, which have been a key feature of Maine’s transition to cleaner energy. (Photo via Oregon Department of Energy) While the struggle for low-income residents to afford their power bill is not new, Rep. Sophie Warren believes that the transition to clean energy needs to prioritize such economic justice issues to ensure no one is left behind in the state’s efforts to address climate change. Last session, the Scarborough Democrat introduced a bill that sought to bolster support for low-income residents to access energy efficiency and weatherization programs. Although that bill died, part of what Warren had hoped to achieve eventually came to fruition when the Maine Climate Council for the first time included in updated Climate Action Plan strategies to lower the energy burden on Maine residents. Though Warren applauds that work, she introduced LD 1037 to go a step further by requiring the climate council to include in its annual report to lawmakers specific recommendations for how to reduce the portion of Mainers’ income that is being spent on electricity and home heating fuels. During a public hearing for the proposal Monday, Warren told members of the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee that she wants to ensure the work continues into the future, regardless of who sits on the council or serves in the executive branch. “As a small, rural state with higher-than-average rates of poverty and some of the highest comparative, I both believe it is a moral imperative we fight poverty alongside climate change but also that to do so is economical in the long run,” Warren said. For low-income households in Maine, the average energy burden is 14% based on 2018-2022 data, according to the Maine Energy Plan published in January. That is nearly three times higher than […]
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