‘An Act To Lower Electrical Costs through Transmission Alternatives and Renewable Sources’
| HP0753 LD 1060 |
Session - 126th Maine Legislature C "A", Filing Number H-646, Sponsored by
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LR 1120 Item 2 |
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| Bill Tracking, Additional Documents | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Lower Electrical Costs through Transmission Alternatives and Renewable Sources’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3209-A, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 262, §1, is amended to read:
§ 3209-A. Net energy billing
The commission may adopt or amend rules governing net energy billing in accordance with this section. Rules adopted or amended under this subsection section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. "Net energy billing" means a billing and metering practice under which a customer is billed on the basis of net energy over the billing period taking into account accumulated unused kilowatt-hour credits from the previous billing period.
Sec. 2. Report. The Public Utilities Commission, referred to in this section as "the commission," in consultation with the State's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, the Efficiency Maine Trust and others shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters by January 7, 2015. The purpose of the report is to identify areas of stress or areas with reliability deficiencies in the transmission and distribution system, including all transmission, subtransmission and distribution system upgrades and investments subject to state jurisdiction, as early as possible in order to allow sufficient time to plan and implement more cost-effective alternatives to building or upgrading distribution lines to meet reliability needs. In the report, the commission shall:
1. Identify, using a 10-year projection, existing and potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies of the State's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities' transmission and distribution systems by location within this State and display those areas on one or more maps;
2. Prioritize the areas of stress or reliability deficiencies identified in subsection 1 based on estimates of the times and circumstances under which these areas would require transmission, subtransmission or distribution system build-out or upgrades in absence of further action;
3. Describe the likely manner of resolving the deficiencies in areas prioritized in subsection 2 through transmission, subtransmission or distribution system build-out or upgrades, including the likely costs;
4. Describe under which circumstances distributed generation, demand response, energy efficiency or other nondistribution strategies or nontransmission strategies might address the deficiencies at a lower cost than the costs identified in subsection 3;
5. Recommend an appropriate year for the existing and potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies in this State to be reevaluated; and
6. Provide any other information or recommendations the commission considers relevant to policy decisions related to using distributed generation, demand response, energy efficiency or other nondistribution alternatives or nontransmission strategies to address potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies in transmission, subtransmission or distribution systems in this State.
The joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters may report out a bill related to the subject matter of the report to the First Regular Session of the 127th Legislature. ’
summary
This amendment is the majority report of the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. This amendment strikes and replaces the bill. This amendment increases the capacity limit of eligible facilities under the net energy billing program from 660 kilowatts to one megawatt. This amendment directs the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules requiring investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to compensate customers that generate accumulated unused kilowatt-hour credits under the net energy billing program at a value that represents the wholesale value of electricity. The amendment further directs the Public Utilities Commission in consultation with the State's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, the Efficiency Maine Trust and others to submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters by January 7, 2015. The purpose of the report is to identify areas of stress or reliability deficiencies in the transmission and distribution system as early as possible in order to allow sufficient time to plan and implement more cost-effective alternatives to building or upgrading distribution lines to meet reliability needs.