Maine PUC considers ag fair program

Maine utility regulators have opened an inquiry to examine issues for agricultural fairs, seasonal festivals, and other electricity customers that have seasonal, limited-duration, concentrated load profiles. The proceeding follows recently enacted legislation calling for support for agricultural fairs, who under utility rates pay significant charges for electricity year-round despite only consuming power seasonally.

During its 2019 session, the Maine state legislature enacted An Act to Address Electricity Costs of Agricultural Fairs, P.L. 2019, c. 169. Section 1 of the Act directs the Efficiency Maine Trust to establish and administer an agricultural fair assistance program to help agricultural fairs reduce electricity costs through the most cost-effective opportunities available. The program is to be funded through a Public Utilities Commission assessment on transmission and distribution utilities each year in an amount equaling the total amount of demand charges paid by agricultural fairs during the prior year.

Section 2 of the Act directs the Commission to open a proceeding to examine rate design and related issues for electricity customers that have seasonal, limited-duration, concentrated load profiles, including but not limited to agricultural fairs, seasonal festivals, and other similar entities. This section directs the Commission to examine options for alternative rate design, with particular attention to electricity demand charges, and to identify electricity customers other than agricultural fairs that may benefit from a program similar to that established in the Act. The Commission is required to submit a report on these issues to the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee no later than December 1, 2019.

The Act was enacted as emergency legislation, so it applies to the upcoming 2019 agricultural fair season. On June 17, 2019, the Commission issued a notice of inquiry in a new proceeding, docketed as 2019-00136, and requested information and comments on three sets of issues. The issues include the design of the Agricultural Fair Assistance Program and its integration into other Trust programming, how much to assess to fund the program, and questions around rate design and the use of demand charges to recover costs from seasonal consumers. Comments are due by July 5, 2019.