Maine delegation challenges FERC electricity-rate ruling

WASHINGTON – Representatives of each office of Maine’s congressional delegation attended a meeting Wednesday morning with officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding the commission’s recent order increasing a component in the wholesale electricity rates to large consumers.

FERC is allowing for an increase up to $8.75 per kilowatt month – an increase that will lead to higher energy costs that will be debilitating for some businesses.

At the Wednesday morning meeting, representatives from the offices of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Reps. John Baldacci and Tom Allen demanded to know why FERC felt such an astronomical jump in rates was warranted.

FERC’s concerns settled on the issue of a safe margin of generating capacity and a fear that the severe situation that has resulted in California could be repeated in New England.

“From what our staff learned we think it’s clear that FERC made a decision without taking into consideration all of the facts,” said Snowe, Collins, Baldacci and Allen in a joint statement.

“We do not have, and do not expect to have, the capacity problems that exist in California. FERC is displaying a lack of sensitivity to regional differences and certainly to regional concerns.”

The delegation pledged to work with all interested parties in Maine and to continue to aggressively pursue a remedy to this situation.