Dear Editor:

One of the biggest issues facing Maine families is affordability — and, with winter coming, simply being able to afford to stay warm.

That is why the Mills administration’s announcement this week that thousands of eligible Mainers will automatically receive discounts on their electric bills is such smart policy. Instead of making struggling families navigate another application process, the state will use information it already has through programs such as MaineCare and SNAP to automatically connect eligible households with assistance. Discounts for some households can exceed 80 percent.

This is the kind of practical response we need to Maine’s affordability crisis.

And the timing could hardly be more important. Average heating-oil prices in Maine are now nearly $6 a gallon. The war with Iran being prosecuted by the Trump administration has disrupted global energy markets and helped drive oil and fuel prices sharply higher. Maine families will be paying the price for that conflict when they fill their oil tanks this winter.

State government cannot end a war in the Middle East or control the world price of oil. But it can help Maine families deal with the consequences. Automatically lowering electric bills for tens of thousands of households is exactly the kind of action voters should examine when deciding who they want governing Maine.

This fall, Lincoln County voters will be choosing among candidates for governor and the Legislature, including Hannah Pingree for governor; Cameron Reny and Denise Tepler for State Senate; and Jennifer Mayher, Charlotte Nutt, Richard Goldman, Pam Swift, Wayne Farrin and independent Clint Collamore in State House races.

The question for voters is straightforward: which candidates and which approach to governing will do the most to address the real affordability pressures Maine families are facing?

With another expensive winter bearing down on us, that choice matters enormously.

Keith Mestrich, chair

Lincoln County Democratic Committee