An Act to Ensure Fair and Equitable Recovery of Post-restructuring Stranded Costs
Summary
LD 1792 is an emergency energy-rate bill that changes how Maine investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities recover “post-restructuring stranded costs,” which are legacy utility costs tied to the state’s electric industry restructuring. The bill directs the Public Utilities Commission to create a statewide rate design that groups customers across all investor-owned utilities into broad classes—residential, small commercial, medium commercial, intermediate commercial, large commercial, and lighting customers—and allocates the combined stranded costs among those groups based on their share of statewide retail electricity sales.
For the period before July 1, 2028, the bill also requires a specific cost-recovery structure for each customer class. Residential and small commercial customers must pay 100% of these costs through fixed monthly charges; medium commercial customers must pay half through fixed charges and half through volumetric charges; intermediate and large commercial customers must pay 85% through fixed charges and 15% through volumetric charges; and lighting customers must pay entirely through volumetric charges. For rate designs applied after September 30, 2025 and before July 1, 2028, the bill further shifts 10% of the allocated costs from large commercial customers to residential, small commercial, and medium commercial customer groups. After July 1, 2028, the commission must establish new allocations and rate designs for three-year periods, with annual reconciliations, and must ensure promotion of beneficial electrification in every customer class.
Impact
The bill amends Title 35-A of the Maine Revised Statutes by adding new definitions and new requirements for how investor-owned utilities recover post-restructuring stranded costs. It overrides existing allocation provisions for certain utility costs, creates a statewide pooling and reallocation framework, and prescribes the mix of fixed versus volumetric charges by customer class. The measure affects residential, commercial, and lighting customers served by investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, and it gives the Public Utilities Commission ongoing authority to set and update the applicable rate designs.
Sentiment
The voting history suggests strong legislative support for the bill. It passed the House by a wide margin and then passed the Senate unanimously on emergency enactment, indicating broad agreement that the issue needed immediate action. The emergency preamble also signals that lawmakers viewed the bill as time-sensitive and important for rate relief and utility cost recovery.
Contention
The main policy tension in the bill is how to distribute stranded utility costs among customer classes. The bill explicitly shifts some cost burden away from large commercial customers and onto residential, small commercial, and medium commercial customers for a defined period, which suggests competing interests between industrial/commercial ratepayers and smaller customers. The emergency language also reflects concern that existing arrangements were not providing sufficient relief for large and industrial customers, while the bill’s structure still preserves some cost recovery from all classes and requires the commission to continue revisiting the issue over time.