Selected Maine PUC 2021 reports and communications

Here's a roundup of selected recent communications from the Maine Public Utilities Commission to the state legislative committee with jurisdiction over energy matters, as of late January 2021. This resource is meant to facilitate finding these documents.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission submitted a report to the Maine State Legislature's Committee, titled, "Report on the Community-Based Renewable Energy Pilot Program", dated January 15, 2021. The report provides information on the status of a "community-based renewable energy pilot program" created by a state law enacted in 2009. That law encouraged the development of small, "community-based" renewable generation by authorizing long-term contracts for the purchase of electricity produced by renewable generators of 10 megawatts or smaller for a term of up to 20 years at a price of up to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. The program required that 51% or more of the facility must be owned by qualifying local owners. The program was limited in scale and duration, with an aggregate cap of 50 MW for all participating projects, and deadlines requiring contracts to be approved by 2015 and projects to begin generating electricity no later than December 31, 2018. In the end, the Commission reports that seven projects totaling 36.8 MW of installed generating capacity achieved commercial operations by the deadline, with contract pricing terms ranging from 8.45 to 10 cents per kWh, and above-market costs of $14,932,920 for the twelve months ending 11/30/2020.

On January 26, 2021, Maine Public Utilities Commission chair Philip Bartlett delivered two presentations to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, titled, "Introduction to the Maine PUC" and "Review of the Electric Industry in Maine". The introduction provides an overview of the Commission, its jurisdiction and activities. The electric industry review covers delivery and supply components of electricity service and rates, Maine's retail and wholesale markets, and "recent and emerging issues" related to transmission and distribution utilities and to renewable policies and programs.

The Maine PUC also submitted the Maine Public Utilities Commission 2020 Annual Report, dated February 1, 2021. The Commission's 2020 annual report provides an overview of the agency's work in 2020 administering the laws concerning public utilities in Maine. Highlights noted by the Commission include:

• Reductions in the cost of standard offer energy supply service for residential and small business consumers;
• Completion of work on a proceeding relating to utility Central Maine Power Company's metering and billing;
• A related rate investigation leading to an order reducing the utility's return on common equity (a disallowance which the Commission called "the largest ever imposed by the Commission on a transmission and distribution utility due to poor management" and which the Commission said will likely lead the utility to "have the lowest common equity return of any electric utility in the country"); and
• Approval of 17 renewable energy projects for long-term contracts pursuant to a recently enacted law.

These reports follow two others dated November 10, 2020, in which the Commission reported to the legislative energy committee on two programs established or modified by the enactment of a 2019 law: a Report on the Effectiveness of Net Energy Billing in Achieving State Policy Goals and Providing Benefits to Ratepayers and a Report on Renewable Distributed Generation Solicitation.