Maine

Restructuring Overview  |  Public Benefits  |  Restructuring Resources  |  Consumer Protection

Legislation Passed
Electric Y Gas Y

Electric: 1997, LD 1804; An Act to Restructure the State's Electric Industry

Gas: 1999, P.L. 1999, ch. 143

Electric
Overview

• 1997: Maine’s 1997 restructuring law requires the PUC to conduct a competitive bid and appoint the default service provider for electric generation service for all non-shopping customers. While Maine does not have a rate cap, the PUC has refused to accept some bids that would have resulted in higher fixed rates over the 1-2 year bid period.
• Electric providers must agree to accept all customers. Therefore, all residential customers remain as a block. If more than one provider is selected, rates are to be averaged among the providers and may not vary according to customer location within a service territory.
• All electricity suppliers are required to get about 30 percent of their power from renewable resources, such as wood-burning power plants and hydroelectric dams.
• 1999-2000: The PUC accepted a bid from Central Maine Power (CMP), the state's largest utility, for a two-year contract for that utility's residential and small commercial customers. Thus, rates for these customers remained stable until March 2002. However, the Commission did not consider the bids from the other two utilities -- Bangor Hydro-Electric and Maine Public Service -- to be acceptable and ordered them to find better prices on the wholesale market. Thus, when wholesale prices went up over the winter of 2000-01, the rates for customers of these two utilities followed that trend.
• 2000: As part of Maine's electric deregulation process, the state's three large investor-owned utilities sold their generation assets. The Public Utilities Commission directed the companies to provide standard offer (or default) service at reasonable prices for most of the state's electricity consumers. It also established principles for setting rates.
• 2002: The U.S. Department of Energy provided an additional $50,000 in grant funding to assist utility regulators in Maine with electric restructuring. All told, Maine's Regulatory Assistance Project is utilizing private and state funds totaling $585,000 to supplement the federal funds, aimed at encouraging electric restructuring outreach activities, and better disseminating information to state public utility regulators.
• March 2002: Standard offer and delivery service prices changed for most electric customers. While Maine Public Service customers and CMP residential and small business standard offer customers experienced a slight price increase, the prices for the remaining CMP and all Bangor Hydro Electric customers who are on the standard offer decreased. Medium and large commercial and industrial customers of both Central Maine Power Company and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company that receive standard offer service saw the largest overall price decreases – from 20% to over 30%.
• December 2002: The Maine PUC recommends that the legislature extend the standard offer program beyond its original deadline of March 2005. The 121st Legislature will begin debating the extension request in early 2003.

Choice Status

• As of June 2003, competitive providers served less than 1% of CMP’s and BHE’s residential and small commercial customers; competitive suppliers served about 34% of MPS’s residential and small commercial customers.

Natural Gas
Overview

• There are no competitive suppliers serving residential consumers in Maine. The state has begun the process of restructuring its natural gas industry, and supplier choice is available to industrial and commercial consumers.

Suppliers
Maine Public Advocates Office
www.state.me.us/meopa/updates.htm

Public Benefits

Maine’s restructuring law mandated continuation of existing energy conservation and low-income assistance programs. It provided for a system benefits charge to fund programs at 1999 funding levels. In 2001 the state finished drafting a statewide conservation plan for all customer classes costing about $9 million yearly, but it has not been approved. In the meantime, pre-existing energy efficiency programs continue. Pre-existing low-income rate assistance programs, funded at about $5.6 million annually, were expanded statewide to all utilities in 2001 under the umbrella term "Low-Income Assistance Program." (Click here for details on the state’s low-income energy and general residential energy programs.)

Aggregation - buying coops

• A buying group may be formed for the express purpose of collectively purchasing electricity, or it may be an already existing organization such as a trade association or a club. In either case, the group may have to be licensed by the PUC as an aggregator, depending on the nature of its activities.
• Group buying can take two forms. In aggregation, a group negotiates with potential suppliers and then enters into a contract that provides the best deal. In the second type of group buying, an organization may agree to endorse a particular supplier to its members, and the supplier than agrees to offer special rates or services to members of that group.

State Restructuring Resources

Utility Regulatory Commission
Maine Public Utilities Commission
www.state.me.us/mpuc/
207-287-3831

Consumer advocate
Maine Public Advocate Office
http://www.state.me.us/meopa/
207-287-2445

Maine Public Utilities Commission -- Consumer Advocate
www.state.me.us/mpuc/CAD/cad.htm
1-800-452-4699

Grassroots groups
Maine Equal Justice Project
207-626-7058
www.mejp.org/other.htm
The MEJP works in the legislature and the courts, to give low-income Maine people an effective voice on issues they care about. Its website includes a section on how electric restructuring affects residential consumers.

Consumer Protection

• Utilities cannot disconnect residential natural gas or electric service customers for nonpayment between November 15 and April 14 if their account is less than three months overdue, or if they owe less than $50. During these protection dates, regulated utilities must offer LIHEAP participants, SSI recipients and state residents with household income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level the opportunity to pay a portion of each winter bill as it becomes due, and pay the remaining amount in installments during the non-heating months.
• Utilities must delay disconnection of residential service for nonpayment for up to 30 days if a physician certifies that disconnection would adversely affect the health of a household resident. A certificate delaying disconnection can be renewed up to three times in 12 months.
• Utilities cannot disconnect residential service for nonpayment whenever a customer pays a "reasonable" portion of the account balance and agrees to a deferred payment arrangement to pay the balance.
• The utility may disconnect service if customers fail to pay a deposit or a bill, fail to keep a written payment plan, tamper with the meter, or somehow obtain service without paying for it.
• The utility must usually give a 14-day disconnection notice. Disconnection cannot happen on a Friday, a weekend, a legal holiday, or any day the utility office is closed.
• If customers want their service disconnected, the utility may ask for up to 7 days advance notice and can bill customers for service used during that time.

Deferred payments

• Payment plans must consider customers' ability to pay and their previous payment history. Most plans require customers to pay weekly or monthly installments plus future bills within 30 days of the postmark. If customers break a payment plan, the utility can send a 3-day disconnection notice. The notice will require customers to pay their overdue amount in full in order to avoid having service disconnected. Utilities may renegotiate a plan, if customers have a good reason for wanting the plan changed.

Deposits/fees

• The supplier may require a deposit equal to 2 bills if it believes customers are a credit risk, but it must tell customers in writing. Customers can get the deposit back with interest if they pay their bills on time for 12 months in a row. They can usually choose to pay the deposit in full or in three installments. They also have the right to have another customer in good standing "guarantee" their bills up to the deposit amount, instead of paying a deposit.

Right to cancel

• Customers must receive a Terms of Service document after signing up with a supplier. They then have a five-calendar-day "grace period" from the mailing date of that document to cancel without penalty. Suppliers must give customers written notice at least 30 days prior to canceling a contract, and perhaps more, depending on the purchase agreement.

Billing and collections

• Under consolidated utility billing, the customer will receive only one bill, as the distribution utility will calculate and issue bills for generation service on behalf of a requesting competitive supplier, in addition to its own billing for transmission and distribution services. If the supplier chooses to calculate and issue bills for generation service for its own customers, a customer will receive two bills.
• Competitive generation service, including standard offer service, must provide the following information on the customer’s billing statement:

1. Electricity consumption, including whether the consumption was based on actual recorded usage or estimated usage
2. The pricing structure under which the customer is being billed
3. The total charge for generation service for the current billing period
4. The actual cents per kWh charged to the customer for the customer’s usage of electricity for the current billing period, calculated by dividing the total charge for generation service by the customer's usage for the current billing period
5. An itemized list of each service or product billed by the provider to the customer for the current billing period
6. The amount of any payment or other credit applied to the customer’s outstanding balance for generation service during the billing period
7. The total amount in arrears owed by the customer;
8. The due date
9. The total amount owed by the customer, including the amount in arrears for generation service and the amount owed for the current billing period.

• Each bill for generation service must use plain language. The bill format must include sufficient information so that the ordinary customer can understand the basic components of the bill; comparative usage information for the prior 12-month period; definitions of technical terms used in the bill; and sufficient separation between sections, type size and visual highlighting to make the bill uncluttered and easy to read.
• If the customer’s bill for generation service is combined on the same bill with regulated charges for transmission and distribution services, the charges associated with competitive services must be separately identified. The billing entity must either provide generation service charges on a separate page from regulated charges or separate the generation service charges graphically from the rest of the bill.

Supplier licensing

• All competitive suppliers must be licensed by the PUC in order to serve customers in Maine. In order to receive a license, a competitive supplier must show financial and technical capability. The PUC rules for licensure require a competitive supplier to furnish a surety bond or an irrevocable standby letter of credit for an initial security of $100,000. There will be an annual modification of this requirement, which will be 10% of revenues from generation services provided to residential and small commercial customers.

Slamming

• Maine law ensures that no customers can be switched without their express permission. There are "slamming" rules in place, with penalties for any company that deceptively obtains signatures or permission over the phone or attempts to switch a customer without authorization. However, customers who did not choose a competitive electricity supplier before March 2000 were automatically provided with standard offer service. They may switch to a competitive supplier of their choice at any time.

Telemarketing

• Customers can prevent suppliers from placing telemarketing calls by notifying them when they call, or by calling them to tell suppliers to put them on their "Do Not Call" List.

Dispute resolution

• Each competitive electricity provider must provide at least one employee during business hours to respond to questions and resolve complaints from customers and to work with the Commission on complaint resolution.
• When an electric supplier becomes aware of a complaint by a customer, it must investigate the complaint, record the investigation, report the results to the customer and attempt to resolve the complaint.
• If the electric supplier cannot resolve the dispute with the customer, it must inform the customer of his or her right to file a complaint with the Commission's Consumer Assistance Division and of the Commission's toll-free telephone number.

Discrimination/redlining

• No one can be refused service because of race, nationality, gender, marital status or where they live.

Disclosure

• All suppliers must give customers information about services they provide, including average price, resource mix and air emissions, pricing variability and customer service information. This information is charted on a label.

Advertising/marketing/trade practices

• Competitive suppliers must comply with the Maine and Federal Fair Practices Acts.

Privacy

• Electric suppliers must maintain the confidentiality of a customer’s personal information, including name, address, telephone number, usage, and historic payment information. Such information cannot be released to any other entity (other than for the purposes of debt collection, credit reporting pursuant to state and federal law, or law enforcement agencies pursuant to lawful process) without the specific affirmative consent of the customer. Such consent may be obtained by either written authorization or independent third-party verification.