PUC To Require Utilities To Provide Customers With 10-Year History Of Default Service Rates

As directed by recently adopted legislation (L.D. 1003), the Maine PUC issued a proposed rule to require electric investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to annually provide customers with a 10-year history of Standard Offer rates as part of the customer bill.

The proposed rule states, "Electric investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities shall include, once per year, as an insert or attachment to customer bills, an informational chart produced by the Commission that displays a 10-year history of transmission, distribution, and standard-offer service rates available to the customer’s rate class, along with a statement of the total percentage change in transmission, distribution, and standard-offer service rates over the 10-year period."

While it was not clear if the PUC would require the display of monthly rates or an average in such disclosure as it relates to SOS (or if the average would only be used for purposes of calculating the all-in rate change), the PUC does propose that electric investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities be required to provide annually to the Commission information, "regarding the average rate, including rate components, of each rate class for the prior 10 year period."

The Commission shall develop an informational chart for the utilities to include in customer bills to comply with the proposed directive noted above.

Docket No. 2019-00186