Amend the bill by inserting after the enacting clause and before section 1 the following:
‘Sec. 1. 2 MRSA §9, sub-§3, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 656, Pt. C, §1, is amended to read:
D. In collaboration with other relevant state agencies, private industry and nonprofit organizations, collect and analyze energy data, including, but not limited to, data on energy supply, demand and costs in this State with consideration of all available energy sources . On a regular basis, the office shall provide a report to the Efficiency Maine Trust of the average price of heating fuels in this State pursuant to Title 35-A, section 10119, subsection 1-A, paragraph E;’
Amend the bill in section 2 in subsection 1-A in the 2nd line (page 1, line 8 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " subsection." the following: ' For the purposes of this subsection, "heating fuel" means #2 heating oil, kerosene or propane.'
Amend the bill in section 2 in subsection 1-A by inserting after paragraph C the following:
‘ D. The trust shall by rule ensure that the proportion of total funds collected pursuant to this subsection that are expended on each program category established under subsection 2, paragraph B, subparagraph (1) is approximately equal to the cost directly or indirectly passed on to customers potentially eligible for benefits under those program categories.
E. The assessment on a heating fuel under this section must be suspended if the average price of that heating fuel is equal to or greater than 90% of the highest average price of that heating fuel in the State, as determined by the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security under Title 2, section 9, subsection 3, paragraph D. The assessment may not be reinstated until the average price of that heating fuel is equal to or less than 70% of the highest average price of that heating fuel in the State as determined by the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security.’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
summary
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, adds a safety valve to the assessment on heating fuels by suspending the assessment when the average price of the heating fuel, as determined by the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security, is equal to or greater than 90% of the highest average price of that heating fuel in the State. The assessment cannot be reinstated until the average price of the heating fuel in the State is equal to or less than 70% of the highest average price of the heating fuel in the State. The amendment also requires that each customer category is assigned funding from the Heating Fuels Efficiency and Weatherization Fund that is approximately equal to the assessment value that was collected from that customer category.