CHAPTER 275

S.P. 284 - L.D. 805

An Act To Protect Conservation Trust Funds

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3211-A, sub-§4, śC, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 624, §4, is amended to read:

C. Are Except as provided in subsection 7-A, are no less than 0.5% of the total transmission and distribution revenues of the transmission and distribution utility; and

Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §3211-A, sub-§7-A is enacted to read:

7-A.__Funds held in trust.__All funds collected from electricity consumers pursuant to this section, including assessments collected from transmission and distribution utilities and deposited in the program fund or the administration fund and any prior conservation efforts, are collected under the authority and for the purposes of this section and, whether held by the commission, transmission and distribution utilities or their agents, are deemed to be held in trust for the purposes of benefiting electricity consumers.__In the event funds are not expended or contracted for expenditure within 2 years of being collected from consumers, the commission shall return the value of those funds to consumers by appropriate reductions in the assessment collected pursuant to subsection 4.