Bill > LD1708

Introduced Session

This bill creates the Pine Tree Power Company, a privately operated, nonprofit, consumer-owned utility controlled by an elected board. The company's purposes are to provide for its customer-owners in this State reliable, affordable electric transmission and distribution services and to help the State meet its climate, energy and connectivity goals in the most rapid and affordable manner possible. The Pine Tree Power Company is not permitted to use general obligation bonds or tax dollars of the State. The company finances itself by issuing debt against its future revenues to purchase the facilities of investor-owned electric transmission and distribution utilities in the State. The fair market value of the acquisition is either negotiated or determined by a refereed process. The Pine Tree Power Company Board contracts a nongovernmental team to operate the facilities, and the operations team is required to retain all workers of the purchased utilities. The company is required to make payments equivalent to property taxes to municipalities. The company is subject to ratemaking and other oversight by the Public Utilities Commission and is required to administer programs for net energy billing, nonwires alternatives, supply procurement and low-income assistance programs. The company is governed by a board of 7 voting members, each elected to represent 5 State Senate districts, as well as 4 expert advisory members. The board is subject to freedom of access laws and to laws preventing conflicts of interest. The bill also directs the Public Utilities Commission by January 1, 2024 to find a transmission and distribution utility unfit to serve and to direct the sale of the utility if within the previous 5 years the utility has been found to have been rated the lowest for customer satisfaction, has reported reliability in the lowest decile of utilities of a similar size in the country or has charged its customers residential delivery rates in the highest decile among utilities of a similar size in the country. This bill requires that, before the Act becomes effective, the Act must be submitted to the legal voters of the State at a statewide election held in the month of November following passage of this Act in order to allow the legal voters of the State to vote on the creation of the Pine Tree Power Company.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Seth Berry (D)*,  Rick Bennett (I),  Stacy Brenner (D),  Nathan Carlow (R),  Nicole Grohoski (D),  Troy Jackson (D),  Rena Newell (NP),  Jennifer Poirier (R),  Woody Woodsome (R), 

ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH. (on 07/19/2021)

Official Document