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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1358
H.P. 881 House of Representatives, April 1, 2025
An Act to Reduce Electricity Rates by Removing Limitations on the
Ownership of Generation by an Affiliate of an Investor-owned
Transmission and Distribution Utility
Received by the Clerk of the House on March 28, 2025. Referred to the Committee on
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative FAULKINGHAM of Winter Harbor.
Cosponsored by Senator STEWART of Aroostook and
Representatives: FOSTER of Dexter, MCINTYRE of Lowell, SMITH of Palermo, Senator:
HARRINGTON of York.
Page 1 - 132LR0672(01)
1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3204, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 287, §1, is amended
3 to read:
411. Affiliated generation outside service territory permitted. Notwithstanding
5 subsection 5, an affiliate of an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility may
6 own generation or generation-related assets in accordance with standards of conduct
7 adopted under this subsection as long as the generation or generation-related assets are not
8 directly interconnected to the facilities owned or operated by that investor-owned
9 transmission and distribution utility. The commission shall establish, by rule, standards of
10 conduct governing the relationships permitted under this section between an investor-
11 owned transmission and distribution utility and an affiliate of the investor-owned
12 transmission and distribution utility that owns generation or generation-related assets that:
13 A. Prohibit a transmission and distribution utility from taking any action that favors
14 such an affiliate or adversely affects a competitor of such an affiliate in a manner that
15 is unjust or unreasonable;
16 B. Ensure the separation and independence of such affiliates; and
17 C. Protect ratepayers.
18 For purposes of this subsection, "affiliate" means a person who has any direct or indirect
19 ownership interest in, or is a direct or indirect subsidiary of a person who has any ownership
20 interest in, the investor-owned transmission and distribution utility, but does not include a
21 wholly owned or partially owned direct or indirect subsidiary of the investor-owned
22 transmission and distribution utility.
23 Any affiliate generation or generation-related assets permitted under this subsection that
24 do not have a commission-approved long-term contract or term sheet under this Title as of
25 July 1, 2017 are ineligible to participate in a long-term contract under this Title.
26 Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5,
27 chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
28SUMMARY
29 This bill permits an affiliate of an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility
30 to own generation or generation-related assets in accordance with standards of conduct
31 adopted by the Public Utilities Commission including when the generation or generation-
32 related assets are directly interconnected to the facilities owned or operated by that
33 investor-owned transmission and distribution utility. The bill also removes the prohibition
34 on affiliate generation or generation-related assets participating in long-term contracts
35 under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A.
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