Maine’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously on Tuesday to reject a proposal from Versant Power that would have helped law enforcement root out illegal marijuana grows across the state, including the more than 270 sites operated by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCO).

Versant came to the PUC with a proposal that would allow it to report unusually high electricity consumption to law enforcement because the company claims that it has a high success rate of identifying illegal Chinese marijuana grows through power consumption.

“it would not be appropriate for utilities to report high usage customers, as Versant has proposed. Such customers may have other legitimate reasons for high usage, and using such broad criteria would likely result in the privacy of many innocent customers being violated,” MPUC Chair Phil L. Bartlett II said at the commission’s Tuesday meeting.

Bartlett, the former chair of the Maine Democratic Party, noted that the Office of the Public Advocate, an agency responsible for protecting consumers, also opposed Versant’s proposal.

Patrick J. Scully and Carolyn C. Gilbert, the two other members of the commission, also voted in favor of rejecting Versant’s plan.

Last year, a leaked federal memo revealed that ATCOs were operating more than 270 illegal drug trafficking hubs throughout Maine, including hundreds of rural properties that have been converted into blackmarket marijuana growing sites.

Currently, Versant cannot communicate that data to law enforcement unless it is requested by law enforcement as part of an ongoing investigation.

Central Maine Power (CMP), Maine’s largest electrical utility, did not support Versant’s proposed initiative.

Versant’s communication manager, Judy Long, told Newscenter Maine that the company made the proposal because the high usage rates commonly associated with illegal marijuana grows poses significant risk for house fires.

“The grow houses were using way more electricity in some cases than their residential wiring could accommodate without creating a real danger of fire,” said Long.

She went on to cite multiple situations in which Versant employees found that the electric meters at illegal grow houses had reached an excess of 500 degrees.

“This was a conversation strictly about people that were using marijuana growing operations in an unsafe way and were able to be identified through certain characteristics of that unsafe usage,” said Long.