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PUC Approves $315,000 Penalty For Retail Supplier Under Revised Settlement, Says Will Deter All Suppliers From Violations
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The Maine PUC found that a $315,000 administrative penalty to be paid by Electricity Maine, LLC (EME) under a revised settlement will serve to deter both EME, as well as other retail electric suppliers, from future rules violations
Electricity Maine provided the following statement concerning the matter:
"We are pleased to have worked with the Commission’s Staff and the Office of the Public Advocate to resolve this matter amicably and will continue in our commitment to compliantly serve and provide Mainers with a choice in their electricity supplier. Electricity Maine is committed to meeting the needs of Maine consumers and continuing to provide a valuable service to the state."
--- Statement from Electricity Maine
As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, the revised settlement, filed in September, followed the PUC's rejection of an earlier settlement that had included $5 million in customer refunds and other remedial measures, but which did not include a civil penalty
The PUC had denied the original settlement as not sufficiently ensuring that Electricity Maine would not harm customers in the future
As more fully described in our prior story, the settlement is meant to resolve a complaint from PUC Staff against Electricity Maine regarding alleged violations concerning the requirements for renewals and renewal notices, for a set of customers who were moved from a fixed rate to a non-indexed variable rate at renewal. Among other things, PUC Staff alleged that EME failed to provide renewal notices to the relevant customers, and had failed to include the highest and lowest price over the prior 12 months on such notices (EME has averred that, as the non-index variable rate was a new product, EME did not have any historical non-indexed variable rates when it began sending renewal notices to customers in August 2022, and it did not populate the high/low price on the renewal form)
The revised settlement, which the PUC approved without modification, includes, among other new terms, a $315,000 administrative penalty on EME, as well as about $1 million in additional customer refunds
In adopting the revised settlement, the PUC said that the administrative penalty
is appropriate given, "the severity and history of EME’s violations."
"The public interest demands that
any CEP [retail supplier] that violates statutes and rules must be held accountable," the PUC said
"The imposition of an
administrative penalty should deter EME, as well as other CEPs, from violating Maine
law and Commission rules in the future," the PUC said
The PUC also distinguished the revised settlement as providing additional consumer benefits as compared to the original settlement.
Such additional terms were fully discussed in our prior story from September, but, in brief, those additional terms not already described above include:
• For affected customers, a new annual customer notice about alternatives to the customer's current EME variable rate plan, including other EME plans, default service, and service from other suppliers. This annual notice is in addition to two immediate notices about the customer's rate and service options, which will be sent 20 days (first) and 50-70 days (second) after the PUC's approval of the settlement
• Extending by 18 months the period during which a rate cap will apply to EME non-index variable rate customers (except those affirmatively electing to remain on the product), with the extended rate cap set as the SOS rate, plus 6 cents per kWh, for the period January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026
• About 2,000 additional customers will be provided refunds, due to the inclusion of an additional month covered by the refund eligibility period (the total number of customers eligible for refunds now stands at 20,000 with these additions)
• An additional month of refunds to affected customers will be provided (with the refund set as the difference between the EME rate and SOS rate), which is estimated to total an additional $1 million, as noted above. These new refunds are in addition to an estimated $5 million in refunds under the original settlement.
A full discussion of these new provisions, as well as the provisions under the original settlement which will still apply, can be found in our prior story here
The PUC noted that the revised settlement was not opposed, as the Maine Office of Public Advocate (OPA) joined the Consumer Assistance and Safety Division (CASD) Staff of the Maine PUC and EME in signing the settlement
Docket 2023-00024
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October 18, 2024
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Copyright 2024 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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