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The Maine Commission announces that a rulemaking hearing will be held on May 27, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. in the Simpson Hearing Room at the Commission to examine Staff’s proposed redlined consumer protection rule amendments.  Staff’s proposed rule amendments apply to all Competitive Electricity Providers (CPEPs). “Competitive electricity provider” means a Marketer, Broker or Aggregator, unless Brokers and Aggregators are expressly excluded from a provision. Among other things Staff’s proposed redline rule changes including consumer consent required for certain residential and small commercial contract renewals including fixed and variable rate renewals and early termination fees.

From the Notice:

{***} “Through this Notice of Rulemaking, the Commission initiates a rulemaking to amend certain provisions of Chapter 305, the rule that governs the licensing requirements, annual reporting, enforcement, and consumer protection provisions for the competitive provision of electricity. The proposed rule is intended to conform Chapter 305 to recent legislative changes regarding consumer consent for certain contract renewals and regarding early termination fees. The proposed rule also includes changes to reflect the Commission’s experience in enforcing the statutory and regulatory provisions applicable to competitive electricity providers (CEPs) and otherwise includes changes intended to provide consistency and clarity within the rule. The Commission provides an opportunity for interested persons to comment on the proposed changes.” {***}

III. PROPOSED RULE AMENDMENTS 

{***}. The Commission proposes to amend Chapter 305 to reflect the additional consumer protection provisions required by and contained in the two Acts. The Commission also proposes certain other substantive and non-substantive changes to the rule in response to the Commission’s experience in regulating CEPs and implementing Chapter 305. The attached redline of Chapter 305 includes all proposed amendments, including those intended to provide better consistency and clarity. The proposed revisions are summarized below.

General Provisions and Definitions, § 1 

No substantive changes are made to this section. However, in keeping with the Commission’s effort to make its rules more easily understandable, whenever a defined term is used in this rule, it is amended so that it has initial capitalization. This will serve to alert the reader to check the definition since the terms of a definition may affect the interpretation of the rule. Further, a statement to that effect is added to the beginning of subsection 1(B). 

1. Customer Protection, § 4 

Terms of Service Document, subsection B(4) 

The Commission proposes to add a sentence to subparagraph (a) which would state that Terms of Service are sometimes called a contract for generation service. This is for clarification purposes and reflects the current practice of some CEPs. 

Renewals, subsection B(9) 

The first proposed change in this subsection adds a requirement in subparagraph (a) that the two required notices to a customer from a CEP regarding an upcoming renewal of a term of service must each be dated and provided to the customer at least 14 calendar days apart. This is to ensure that the customer receives and reads the notice and has sufficient time to respond if necessary. 

A new subparagraph (b), proposed to conform to the Act on Consumer Consent, protects customers by prohibiting renewal of a contract for electricity service without the customer’s express consent unless the renewal contract has the same term as the expiring contract. 

The proposed amendments change existing subparagraph (b) to (c) and proposed to amend the text as follows. The first sentence of new subparagraph (c) is deleted because the provisions in new subparagraph (b) now essentially address the issue. The proposed change to the second sentence is required by the Act on Consumer Consent. This change preserves the 20% cap on charge increases associated with renewals or, alternatively, specifies that renewal of a fixed rate contract to a new fixed rate contract may not include a rate that is greater than a fixed rate and term that would be offered to new customers without the customer’s express consent. 

The proposed amendments change existing subparagraph (c) to (d) and amend the text as follows. For a proposed renewal that would renew a fixed rate contract but convert it to a variable rate contract, the express written consent of the customer is required under the terms of the Act on Consumer Consent. 

Existing subparagraphs (d) through (g) are proposed to be deleted because they are superseded by the above-described proposed amendments. 

Variable Rates and Charges, subsection B(11) 

The Commission proposes a new subparagraph B(11)(e) which would direct CEPs, when offering variable rate contracts or charges, to include in all Terms of Service documents and on its website the highest and lowest prices during the previous 12-month period, and the highest and lowest prices during any period of offered service that is less than 12 months. Existing subparagraph (e) would become new subparagraph (f).

Termination Fees, subsection B(12) 

To conform with the Act on Termination Fees, the Commission proposes to amend subsection B(12) as follows. A new subparagraph (a) is proposed that states that starting with contracts dated June 30, 2023 or later, early termination fees are prohibited. Existing subparagraph (a) would become subparagraph (b) and would require contracts containing a termination fee and that predate June 30, 2023 to comply with this subparagraph.” {***}

(Commission Initiated Rulemaking Amendments To Licensing Requirements, Annual Reporting, Enforcement And Consumer Protection Provisions For Competitive Provision Of Electricity – Chapter 305)

1. RULEMAKING PROCEDURES 

{***} This rulemaking will be conducted according to the procedures set forth in 5 M.R.S. §§ 8051-8064. A public hearing on the proposed rule will be held on May 27, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. in the Simpson Hearing Room at the Commission. Interested persons wishing to participate remotely, via Microsoft Teams, may do so by obtaining a link from Dale Coty at Dale.Coty@maine.gov. Interested persons may also dial in to the hearing at the number provided below to participate by audio. 

Call in: 207-209-4724 

Conference ID: 767 784 922# {***}

Notice Of Rulemaking (04/23/2025)

Redlined pdf (04/23/2025)

2025-00077 (02/27/2025)

(Commission Initiated Rulemaking Amendments To Licensing Requirements, Annual Reporting, Enforcement And Consumer Protection Provisions For Competitive Provision Of Electricity – Chapter 305)