131st MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1971		LR 2513(03)
	Resolve, to Ensure that Eligible Customers Receive Payments from the Energy Rate Relief Fund
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Engrossed with: C "A" (S-196)
	Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Fiscal Note
Current biennium cost increase - American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	Resolve 2021, chapter 168 required the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to make payments to utilities that the utilities would then credit to the accounts of eligible customers for energy rate relief payments.  DECD utilized funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 that had been allocated to the department in Public Law 2021, chapter 483 to provide the relief payments.  This bill provides that a customer is eligible for an energy rate relief payment even if that customer did not receive a February 2022 invoice from an electric utility.  According to DECD, the cost of this provision is estimated to be $200,000.  The department has sufficient ARPA funds available to support the additional payments and no General Fund appropriations are required.