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An Act To Amend the Law Regarding Filing Fees for Proposed Transmission Line Projects
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §3132, sub-§9, as amended by PL 2007, c. 148, §8, is further amended to read:
 
9. Filing fee; waiver of fee.   When a petition is filed under this section or section 3132-A, the person or persons involved shall pay to the commission an amount equal to 2/100 of 1% of the estimated cost to erect, rebuild or relocate the transmission line providedexcept that, in the case of a petition filed under subsection 2, the fee is 4/100 of 1% or $100,000, whichever is higher. The person may, at the time of the filing of notice of its intent to file the petition, or, in the case of lines subject to subsection 2, at the time of the filing of the petition, request the commission to waive all or a portion of the filing fee. The commission shall rule on the request for waiver within 30 days.
 
Filing fees paid as required under this subsection must be segregated, apportioned and expended by the commission for the purposes of this section. Any portion of the filing fee that is received from any person and is not expended by the commission to process the petition for a certificate of public convenience and necessity must be returned to the person.
 
SUMMARY
This bill changes the fee for petitioning the Public Utilities Commission for approval to erect a transmission line capable of being operated at 69 kilovolts or more from 4/100 of 1% of the cost to erect the line to 4/100 of 1% or $100,000, whichever is higher. It also requires a fee of 2/100 of 1% of the estimated cost of a transmission line and its associated infrastructure capable of operating at less than 69 kilovolts and projected to cost in excess of $20,000,000 to be paid by a person petitioning the commission to build such a line and infrastructure.