‘An Act To Protect Electricity Consumers of Maine’
| SP0796 LD 2002 |
First Special Session - 123rd Legislature - Text: MS-Word, RTF or PDF |
LR 3364 Item 2 |
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| Bill Tracking | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Protect Electricity Consumers of Maine’
Amend the bill in section 1 in subsection 2 in the 2nd and 3rd lines (page 1, lines 5 and 6 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "a transmission line capable of operating at 100 kilovolts , or more , or" and inserting the following: ' a transmission line capable of operating at 100 kilovolts, or more, or'
Amend the bill by striking out everything after section 1 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §3210-C, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2007, c. 293, §2, is further amended to read:
(1) To the extent necessary to fulfill the policy of subsection 2, paragraph A; or
(2) If the commission determines appropriate for purposes of supplying or lowering the cost of standard-offer service. Available energy contracted pursuant to this subparagraph may be sold into the wholesale electricity market in conjunction with solicitations for standard-offer supply bids.
The commission may direct large investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to enter into contracts under this subsection only as agents for their customers and only in accordance with this section. To the greatest extent possible, the commission shall develop procedures having the same legal and financial effect as the procedures used for standard-offer service pursuant to section 3212 for large investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities.
The commission may enter into contracts for interruptible, demand response or energy efficiency capacity resources. These contracts are not subject to the rules of the State Purchasing Agent.
Capacity resources contracted under this subsection may not exceed the amount necessary to ensure the reliability of the electric grid of this State or to lower customer costs as determined by the commission pursuant to rules adopted under subsection 10.
Unless the commission determines the public interest requires otherwise, a capacity resource may not be contracted under this subsection unless the commission determines that the capacity resource is recognized as a capacity resource for purposes of any regional or federal capacity requirements.
Sec. 3. 35-A MRSA §3210-C, sub-§7, as amended by PL 2007, c. 293, §4, is further amended to read:
Sec. 4. 35-A MRSA §3210-C, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 677, Pt. C, §1, is amended to read:
Sec. 5. 35-A MRSA §3210-C, sub-§10, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 677, Pt. C, §1, is amended to read:
summary
This amendment retains the provision in the bill that lowers the threshold for requiring a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction of a transmission line to 69 kilovolts or more but removes a confusing reference in the bill to a higher-rated line. The amendment strikes all other provisions in the bill. The amendment adds a provision to allow the Public Utilities Commission to direct all investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to enter into long-term contracts for capacity resources and associated energy. Current law limits the commission to directing investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities serving more than 50,000 customers to enter into such contracts.