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An Act Regarding Utility-related Fees
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §120, sub-§2-A  is enacted to read:
 
2-A.  Utility-related fees and penalties.     Any utility-related fees and penalties paid by a public utility in the previous year that have not been adjusted in the previous 5 years. The commission shall submit to the committee legislation to adjust each such utility-related fee or penalty paid by a public utility that is set in statute and rule based on the Consumer Price Index;
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §120, sub-§2-B  is enacted to read:
 
2-B.  Expenses.     Beginning in 2021, the commission's expenses relating to all consumer-owned public utilities and expenses relating to all investor-owned public utilities in the previous year and a determination of the average regulatory cost per customer per year for all consumer-owned public utilities and all investor-owned public utilities in each utility industry.
 
Whenever the average regulatory cost per customer per year in a utility industry under this subsection for all consumer-owned public utilities exceeds the average regulatory cost per customer per year for all investor-owned public utilities by more than 50%, the commission shall amend its rules or introduce legislation to address the discrepancy in a manner that minimizes the shift of regulatory costs from customers of consumer-owned public utilities to customers of investor-owned public utilities.
 
Whenever the average regulatory cost per customer per year in a utility industry under this subsection for all investor-owned public utilities exceeds the average regulatory cost per customer per year for all consumer-owned public utilities by more than 50%, the commission shall amend its rules or introduce legislation to address the discrepancy in a manner that minimizes the shift of regulatory costs from customers of investor-owned public utilities to customers of consumer-owned public utilities;
Sec. 3.  35-A MRSA §1702, sub-§6, ¶A  is enacted to read:
 
A.  Beginning in 2021, the Public Advocate shall include in the annual report a review of the Public Advocate's expenses relating to all consumer-owned public utilities and expenses relating to all investor-owned public utilities over the past report year and determine the average regulatory cost per customer per report year for all consumer-owned public utilities and all investor-owned public utilities in each utility industry.
Sec. 4.  35-A MRSA §1702, sub-§6, ¶B  is enacted to read:
 
B.  Whenever the average regulatory cost per customer per report year in a utility industry under paragraph A for all consumer-owned public utilities exceeds the average regulatory cost per customer per report year for all investor-owned public utilities by more than 50%, the Public Advocate shall amend its rules or introduce legislation to address the discrepancy in a manner that minimizes the shift of regulatory costs from customers of consumer-owned public utilities to customers of investor-owned public utilities.
Sec. 5.  35-A MRSA §1702, sub-§6, ¶C  is enacted to read:
 
C.  Whenever the average regulatory cost per customer per report year in a utility industry under paragraph A for all investor-owned public utilities exceeds the average regulatory cost per customer per report year for all consumer-owned public utilities by more than 50%, the Public Advocate shall amend its rules or introduce legislation to address the discrepancy in a manner that minimizes the shift of regulatory costs from customers of investor-owned public utilities to customers of consumer-owned public utilities.
Sec. 6. Fee and penalty revision. The Public Utilities Commission shall submit legislation to the First Regular Session of the 130th Legislature to adjust all fees and penalties paid by public utilities, as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 102, subsection 13, based on the actuarially compounded Consumer Price Index for each fee or penalty since enactment, rounding to the nearest multiple of $100 if the fee or penalty is below $10,000 and to the nearest multiple of $1,000 if the fee or penalty is $10,000 or greater.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to report annually to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over public utilities matters on any utility-related fees and penalties that have not been adjusted in the previous 5 years and to submit legislation to adjust each utility-related fee or penalty based on the Consumer Price Index. The commission is also required to submit legislation to the First Regular Session of the 130th Legislature to adjust all fees and penalties paid by public utilities based on the actuarially compounded Consumer Price Index for each fee or penalty since enactment.
The bill also requires the commission and the Public Advocate, beginning in 2021, to annually review their expenses relating to all consumer-owned public utilities and expenses relating to all investor-owned public utilities over the past year, determine the average regulatory cost per customer per year for all consumer-owned public utilities and all investor-owned public utilities in each utility industry and amend their rules or introduce legislation to address a significant discrepancy in the average regulatory costs.