Maine municipal street lighting inquiry opened

Maine utility regulators have opened an inquiry into issues related to municipal ownership of street lighting. The case could reshape the rights and responsibilities of Maine cities and towns with respect to municipally owned street lighting.

In 2013, the Maine Legislature enacted An Act to Reduce Energy Costs, Increase Energy Efficiency, Promote Electric System Reliability and Protect the Environment. Part E of the Act required that Maine's transmission and distribution (T&D) utilities must provide options to municipalities to purchase street and area lighting from the T&D utilities. In 2015, the Maine Public Utilities Commission issued an order directing the state's two investor-owned T&D utilities to file rate schedules and Terms and Conditions consistent with the law, and directed the utilities to work with a group of municipalities interested in street lighting issues to develop standard form agreements to be used when municipalities choose to purchase street lighting equipment from the utilities.

Earlier this year, utility Central Maine Power Co. proposed revisions to its municipal street lighting terms and conditions. CMP said its intent was to clarify that the maintenance obligations for underground equipment used to feed street lights does not change once a municipality takes ownership of any street lights that are fed by such underground equipment. Various municipalities opposed CMP's proposed revisions. CMP ultimately withdrew its proposed revisions, and asked the Commission to convene a meeting of a working group established by the Commission in 2015.

On November 22, 2019, the Commission issued a Notice of Inquiry into municipal street lighting issues, docketed as 2019-00315. The Commission says the inquiry "will examine issues related to municipal ownership of street lights in both the CMP and Emera Maine territories." The Commission requested comments from municipalities, interested persons, and the utilities on the following topics by Friday, December 13, 2019:

1. Appropriate responsibilities of the municipalities and the utilities for performing maintenance, and appropriate allocation of associated costs, particularly those applicable to underground equipment;
2. Street light safety issues, including compliance with safety standards; and
3. Any other issues the parties would like the Inquiry to address.

Following receipt of comments, the Commission says it will schedule a conference to discuss the issues raised.