AUGUSTA (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci said Wednesday he will convene a task force to review the pluses and minuses of Maine’s continued participation in the New England Power Pool and ISO New England, which oversees the New England wholesale electricity market.

Citing concerns among Maine businesses, Baldacci said “the answer to their questions is not immediately clear” but added that his executive order would direct the task force to investigate options for Maine if the state chose to withdraw from the regional organizations.

Baldacci’s announcement came as he unveiled a legislative package of energy initiatives.

Elements include one proposal to increase the amount of renewable energy resources by 10 percent by the year 2017 and another to set a lower excise tax rate for biodiesel blended fuel.

Baldacci also said he would try again to win legislative approval for appliance efficiency standards and make clear that state regulators may treat energy conservation and efficiency as equivalent to additional energy resources.

The governor expressed his own concern that a 1997 deregulation of Maine’s electric utility industry is “not working as intended” for Maine consumers.

On the positive side, he said, the region did not experience severe power shortages this winter, although he attributed a good bit of that to luck in the form of mild weather.

“We dodged a bullet,” Baldacci told reporters at a State House news conference.

Last month, Maine utility regulators said they had withdrawn from settlement talks for a proposed electric rate plan for New England, saying they cannot accept increases that would give energy companies an unjustified windfall.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been holding talks for months in Boston and Washington to resolve differences over the plan proposed by ISO New England, the regional grid operator in Holyoke, Mass.

Overall, “consumers are really concerned about energy prices,” Chairman Kurt Adams of the Maine Public Utilities Commission said Wednesday.

“Maine is a net exporter of electricity and one of the big questions is, is this relationship worth it?”

Four years ago, the Maine PUC examined the potential for an energy alliance with the Canadian Maritimes. Baldacci aide Beth Nagusky, director of Baldacci’s Office of Energy Independence and Security, said Wednesday such a shift could theoretically be an option.