Here’s why electric rates are spiking on Maine's most remote island

Here’s why electric rates are spiking on Maine’s most remote island

Fishing wharves seen at low tide at dawn on Matinicus Isle in August 2009. Photo by Robert F. Bukaty of the Associated Press.Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between The Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers. Electric bills on Matinicus Isle are expected to increase this summer after the island’s government upgraded …

Here’s why electric rates are spiking on Maine's most remote island

Electric bills on Matinicus Isle are expected to increase this summer after the island’s government upgraded its aging power system and are now looking to make it financially sustainable. The community on Maine’s most remote inhabited island is home to more than 100 people in the summer but only 20 or so in the winter. Without a utility cable connecting Matinicus to the mainland 15 miles away, the plantation and its board of assessors run the po…