Whereas, it is necessary that all electricity consumers have access to standard-offer services beginning March 1, 2000; and

Whereas, certain customers are connected to the electric grid at a location that may make it uneconomic for competitive electricity providers to provide service; and

Whereas, the Public Utilities Commission currently lacks the authority to direct transmission and distribution utilities to provide standard-offer service to its customers except in certain prescribed situations; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3212, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 398, Pt. F, §1, is further amended by amending the 2nd blocked paragraph to read:

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Title, the commission may, in the event of a default by a standard-offer service provider, require the transmission and distribution utility in whose service territory the provider was providing standard-offer service to arrange and to provide for default service. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Title, the commission may, in the event that the commission receives no bids to provide standard-offer service in a transmission and distribution utility's territory or the commission determines that the bids it receives are inadequate or unacceptable, require the transmission and distribution utility to arrange and to provide for default service. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Title, the commission may require a transmission and distribution utility to provide default service to its customers that are not located within either the New England independent system operator control area or the Maritimes control area; and default service pursuant to this sentence must be provided to customers at the same price and on the same terms and conditions as standard-offer service is provided to the customers of the transmission and distribution utility in the standard-offer class in which the customer is eligible to receive service. The arrangement and provision of such default service by a transmission and distribution utility