It’s a far-fetched idea: that the state of Vermont might pay $500 million to buy a majority interest in the company that owns Vermont’s electric transmission lines. But it is interesting to consider how such a far-fetched idea might have gained momentum in Montpelier.

At least, it has momentum in one Senate committee, which is considering a proposal for the state to buy into Vermont Electric Power Co. in response to the proposed merger of Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service. Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, a Northeast Kingdom Republican with a liking for public power projects, is behind the effort.

There is little likelihood the state will actually assume ownership of VELCO. Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell said, “I think it’s crazy. We wouldn’t just be buying the assets, we’d be buying the current liabilities and the potential liabilities as well.”

William Driscoll, vice president of the Associated Industries of Vermont, said the takeover of VELCO was “a bad solution in search of a nonexistent problem.”

Public ownership of private utilities has a long history that includes municipal utilities, such as electric departments in places such as Burlington, Ludlow and Reading, as well as electric cooperatives that are owned by members. These became necessary to counter the monopoly power of utilities and to guarantee the utility was serving the public good by, for example, extending electric power into remote rural areas.

Illuzzi has not been shy about urging the state of Vermont to get into the power business. When several hydroelectric dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers came on the market during the governorship of James Douglas, he was a vocal proponent of state ownership of the dams. Douglas looked at the possibility but determined purchase of the dams would not be cost-effective for the state and passed on the purchase. The dams ended up in the hands of a Canadian company that has reaped the benefits.

There is a reason the state does not involve itself in the ownership and operation of power companies.

Electric power is a complex and risky business. It is not easy even for experienced power company executives always to negotiate the tricky currents of fluctuating prices, demanding weather and changing technology. Private companies have the expertise and the profit motive to operate effectively.

While eschewing public ownership, the state nevertheless maintains a regulatory regime designed to ensure that power company operations in the state come under public scrutiny. Critics of the GMP-CVPS merger worry that Gaz Metro, the parent company of GMP, will use Vermont as a transmission corridor for power lines linking Canada with southern New England. But the state’s Public Service Board has the job of reviewing proposals of that sort and ensuring they are in the interest of the state.

In some quarters trust in the utilities, and in the PSB, remains low. Critics see regulators as captive of the industries they are supposed to be regulating, and they are not convinced the PSB would stand up to Gaz Metro. They note that Gaz Metro itself is owned by major energy conglomerates.

And yet a decade ago Vermonters watched the state’s utilities suffer because of power deals with Hydro-Quebec that left Vermont ratepayers paying comparatively high prices. The viability of the utilities was in doubt until they were allowed to raise rates, temporarily, to help them weather the storm.

Rather than putting Vermont taxpayers on the line by subjecting them to the vagaries of electric utility ownership, the state would be better served letting the utilities take the risk and earn their modest profits, which are limited by regulators. Skepticism of power companies and their schemes is warranted, as the record of Entergy, owner of Vermont Yankee, has proven.

But solving the problem of the utilities by taking on those problems ourselves may not be the best way to go. There are proposals on the table for an enhanced public role in the governance of VELCO, suggesting that the state can fix the VELCO problem without making it worse.