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Maine PBF/ USF History, Legislation, Implementation

Legislation Cite and Date
Chapter 314 - Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan
PL 1997, Chapter 32

Low-Income Provisions
"In order to meet legitimate needs of electricity consumers who are unable to pay their electricity bills in full and who satisfy eligibility criteria for assistance, and recognizing that electricity is a basic necessity to which all residents of the State should have access, it is the policy of the State to ensure adequate provision of financial assistance.”

Low-Income Rate Assistance
Effective October 2001, statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan was adopted, continuing the large utility programs and mandating that all electric utilities participate in the Plan.

Low-Income Conservation
Statewide conservation program implemented in 2002 by the state's three large investor-owned utilities; low-income funding consists of refrigerator replacement.

Annual Funding (2009)
Rate Assistance: $9 million

Conservation: $2.5 million for low-income refrigerator replacement

Funding Mechanism
Rate Assistance: Assessments on 10 participating electric utilities adjusted each year by MPUC.

Conservation: Assessments on participating utilities not to exceed .15 cents per kWH , and not less than 0.5% of the utility’s transmission and distribution revenues.

Administration
The Maine State Housing Authority, the LIHEAP grantee.

Pre-Restructuring Funding
Rate Assistance: $5.6 million
Conservation: $282,759

Reports / Evaluations

Efficiency Maine’s 2009 annual report

State Report: Maine, from Ratepayer-Funded Low-Income Energy Programs: Performance and Possibilities, APPRISE and Fisher, Sheehan, and Colton, July 2007

Page last updated: October 21, 2011