Maine committee reviews rewritten community choice aggregation bill, tables it for more edits
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Summary
The Energy Utilities & Technology Committee reviewed a strike-and-replace amendment to LD 2112 that would let municipalities form community choice aggregation programs with PUC approval, automatic enrollment for default service customers (with opt-out), data-sharing rules, and low-income protections; members tabled the bill for further technical changes.
Chair Melanie Sachs convened a work session of the Energy Utilities & Technology Committee on LD 2112 on Feb. 11, reviewing a sponsor-driven, strike-and-replace amendment that would allow municipalities or groups of municipalities to establish community choice aggregation (CCA) programs to procure generation service.
The amendment, presented by analyst Lindsay Laxon, would require municipal governing bodies to approve a CCA plan by a majority vote and submit the plan to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for approval. "Once commission approval has been received, then the municipality or municipalities send out notice to default service customers... then at that point, all eligible customers on default service within that jurisdiction may be automatically enrolled in the program unless they affirmatively opt out," Laxon told the committee.
The sponsor, Representative Jerry Runte, described the rewritten bill as a simplification of implementation and compliance for utilities and municipalities. "The purchase of receivables component that had been in the original bill is gone," Runte said, adding that the amendment treats a town's CCA "in the same manner as if it were one more competitive energy provider," which he said should reduce billing-system changes and make the program more workable.
The amendment includes customer-protection provisions: it identifies customer classes that must affirmatively opt in (for example, customers already served by a competitive electricity provider or participants in specified successor programs), requires customer notice and an opt-out process for default service customers, and establishes data-sharing obligations where customers who opt in must authorize their account information to be shared with an aggregator. It also includes protections for low-income and energy-assistance customers and removes the previously proposed purchase-of-receivables language.
Laxon noted the amendment directs the PUC to adopt rulemaking to standardize opt-out procedures, customer-protection and transparency requirements, and the approval process for municipal plans. The amendment also provides that a competitive electricity provider acting as an aggregator may deny service to customers who do not meet its payment-history criteria.
Committee members asked clarifying questions and Earl requests for additional technical tweaks; Runte said he expected to circulate further amendments ahead of the committee's next session. With more work needed, Representative Warren moved to table follow-up action until the committee could consider technical changes; the motion to table LD 2112 was seconded and passed unanimously.
The committee asked PUC and Department of Energy Resources staff, as well as utilities and the Office of Policy and Analysis (OPA), to review the revised language and be prepared to answer detailed technical questions at the next scheduled work session.