Keep telling yourself that lmao

a factor vs. sole factor. Meth is extremely addictive. Meth causes rapid decline in both physical and mental health. Addiction in general causes a multitude of problems, and is indeed why he lost his presumably higher paying utilities job. You can point to the wages all you want but being an addict sure as shit isn't a non-factor in this guy's diminished quality of life.

"the drugs aren't a factor" that is just one of the most naive statements I've ever heard, good lord. Addiction is extremely costly in about every way imaginable. It absolutely IS a factor, and you're straight up disconnected from reality if you don't understand that.

Ah, well good job not being a part of the Maine brain drain then. I went to USM which was certainly one of the decisions I've ever made.

Man, as a Maine native, I'm struggling to not unleash a tirade about the influx of transplants and their... uh, quirks.

I'll keep it civil and relevant: no, your job sounds great, and you risk making your life considerably more stressful if you leave for some meager payout. You're making more than like 90% of the people around you and your household income is probably in the top 1% of the state. Come on now.

Not to mention that most power co employees are now on their 3rd straight week without a day off due to the storm last weekend as well.

Exchange profit motive for bureaucracy and debt. I can't speak to how efficient the state is, but I was a federal employee for several years and the amount of inefficiency, bloat, and useless personnel that were basically impossible to fire was mindblowing.

13.5 billion is the number I've seen floated around. MPUC still sets the standard offer rates, we potentially save on distribution costs and potentially pay a higher tax burden as a result of budgeting in payment for the infrastructure. I see a lot of room for unintended consequences. I also see no reason there would be a positive change in reliability or response times without increasing the labor pool involved.

Scale and logistics. If people think state owned power would have better response times without an increase in labor cost, essentially getting something from nothing, they are using magical thinking. Not saying you can't want better from CMP or large scale power distribution in general, but you do indeed get what you pay for.

As someone who just left an adjacent position at an adjacent employer, this is by far the best answer here. Places like BIW and PNS offer good middle class income with good benefits. They're also potentially soul-crushing and dismal places to work.