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Parties File Comments in the Development of Community Choice Aggregation Programs

Category: Maine

On September 17-18, 2026 multiple parties filed comments in inquiry to develop rules implementing LD2112 of 2026, which authorized municipalities and tribal communities to establish community choice aggregation (CCA) programs within Maine.

Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA) recommended that the Maine PUC require CCA plans to: (i) “identify the core functions of the CCA program and entity… that will perform those functions”; (ii) “describe the rights and responsibilities of program participants, including processes and requirements for switching between offered products or discontinuing participation in the program”; (iii) “explain the steps and expected timeline by which the municipality intends to procure initial and ongoing supply for the program, including issuance of a request for proposals, evaluation/selection of proposals, and negotiation and execution of contracts with the selected suppliers”; (iv) “identify the components that will comprise the prices to be charged to participants”; (v) “describe the factors/criteria that the municipality will consider in determining the products to be offered”; (vi) “identify the sources of program funding (other than product prices) and any types of costs that participants will incur”; (vii) “explain initial and ongoing program enrollment processes and requirements, including ensuring only eligible customers are enrolled… and the content and timing of customer opt-out notices and, if a municipality offers several product options, identifying the default product and the processes and requirements for opting-in to optional product offerings”; (viii) “identify any education materials and/or other notices that will be provided to customers and the types of other communications that suppliers will be permitted to have with program participants”; and (ix) “describe any reporting requirements, data sharing obligations, supplier transition processes, and program termination criteria and processes”.

RESA: (i) said that, while “other New England jurisdictions allow for a thirty (30) day opt-out period,” it would support a shorter period, since “only a fraction of the customers will be enrolled in the aggregation on the actual date that the opt-out period concludes and some will not be enrolled until nearly a month after the opt-out period concludes” due to switching occurring on “the meter read date that follows the conclusion of the opt-out period”; (ii) recommended providing “each municipality with the flexibility to determine the [later opt-in] process and timing that works best for its program”; (iii) recommended minimizing default service impact by ensuring the notice period is “sufficiently long to account for foreseeable load changes in default service procurement and administration”; (iv) recommended PUC prevent gaming by restricting “any community that has suspended or terminated a CCA program from restarting the program for a specified period” and requiring it to file a new plan; (v) recommended PUC “adopt a minimum threshold that specifies the number of days and/or dollars in arrears that must be reached before a municipality can exercise” the rights “to decline to serve a customer based on the customer’s utility payment history and for a customer to be unenrolled from a CCA program and returned to default service for nonpayment of electricity services,” adding that “Adoption and implementation of a purchase of receivables (‘POR’) program would obviate the need to exclude customers with poor payment histories”; (vi) recommended that “In addition to the data required by subsection 7(C) of Section 3219, the T&D Utilities should be required to identify any customers that are receiving financial assistance for low-income households… or participating in an arrearage management program”; and (vii) recommended that “section 6.10 of the standard service agreement should be removed or modified to reflect that customer consent to the release of customer-specific information is not required for CCAs,” noting that “it would be inconsistent to allow customers to be enrolled in a CCA without consent but to require that customer consent be obtained in order to receive the information necessary to enroll and serve those customers” and “simply would not be practical for municipalities to obtain consent from every resident for the release of this information”

Constellation and Calpine recommended: (i) PUC “adopt approval standards beyond the procedural requirements of the Act… these standards could address organizational structure, procurement practices, reliability, customer enrollment, product disclosures, transparency, program termination, and reporting requirements”; (ii) requiring program suppliers to “send opt-out notices to Auto-Enroll Customers at least 30 calendar days… before enrollment” that clearly explain “Enrollment date, program pricing, alternative options, and opt-out methods”; (iii) “Customers not auto enrolled should be allowed to enroll in the CCA program at any time”; (iv) requiring “advance utility notification, staggering program implementation for large aggregations (if necessary), and allow[ing] utilities adequate lead time for load forecasting adjustments,” but not alignment of “implementation dates with specific Standard Offer procurement cycles”; (v) that clear, objective MEPUC standards on declining “to provide service… based on the customer’s utility payment history… would protect municipalities and customers by ensuring that any exclusion is applied uniformly and without discrimination”; (vi) allowing “unenrollment when a customer is delinquent, standard utility collection practices have been exhausted, and appropriate notice has been provided,” and requiring “the CCA or supplier… to provide at least 30 days’ written notice”; and (vii) MEPUC “establish that CCA programs operate under the [POR] framework”.

OPA recommended that: (i) Maine PUC “use the definition of the residential and small non-residential standard offer class in Chapter 301” to “allow for appropriate comparison between [CCA] offers and the applicable standard offer”; (ii) “customers be notified at least 60 days before the effective date of the plan… [including] all prices and terms of service applicable to the customer receiving the notice, as well as clear and simple methods for opting out”; (iii) “customers be able to opt out at any time prior to or after the effective date of the plan,” at which point “the CCA program should be required to initiate an EDI request to the utility within 2 business days”; (iv) MEPUC require “notice of the intention to commence a CCA program be provided” to standard offer customers “Ninety calendar days [in advance] if the commencement of service is to occur during the first 2 months of a utility default service supply period with for which rates are or will be fixed or known for 6 months or more” or else 45 days in advance; (v) the section that “provides that a municipality or group of municipalities may elect not to provide service to a [CCA] customer… based on the customer’s utility payment history… be narrowly construed to apply only to customers who have been disconnected for non-payment”; (vi) “customers may not be involuntarily unenrolled from a community choice aggregation program unless they meet the dollar and timing thresholds for disconnection due to nonpayment set forth in Chapter 815 §10”; and (vii) MEPUC require “that notice be provided to all customers any time a municipality participating in CCA decides to change its rates and that notice should include a comparison to the applicable standard offer rate in effect at that time.”