PRESQUE ISLE – Maine Public Service Co. shareholders have approved a plan to create a holding company, the Maine & Maritimes Corp.

The plan was approved by a nearly 6-to-1 ratio of shareholders voting May 30 during the company’s annual meeting.

Under the new plan, Maine Public Service Co. will become a separate subsidiary of MMC, as will Energy Atlantic LLC, the unregulated competitive electric supply company for Maine Public.

Maine and New Brunswick Electrical Power Co. Ltd. will remain an inactive Canadian subsidiary of MPS.

J. Nick Bayne, MPS president and chief executive officer, said last October that the holding company plan would allow MPS to continue to provide competitive and reliable transmission and distribution services as a regulated utility.

At the same time, the corporate structure would enable the company’s present and future subsidiaries to compete more successfully for business both inside and outside the state.

“The holding company structure will provide greater flexibility, allow us to diversify and expand services, and take advantage of acquisitions and growth opportunities to increase shareholder value, while maintaining our conservative business profile,” Bayne said last fall in a prepared statement.

The change will not affect the company’s 75,000 customers in Aroostook County and part of northern Penobscot County.

Upon completion of the reorganization for the new holding company, shares of MPS common stock will be converted on the books into the same number of shares of common stock of the Maine & Maritimes Corp.