FERC rejects change to County electric rates

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci said Tuesday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected a proposed rule change that would have increased utility rates in northern Maine.

Baldacci asked FERC in May that the proposed rule be rejected.

“Aroostook County has already been hit with a 45 percent increase in electricity rates. If this change had been allowed to happen, the county would have been hit again,” Baldacci’s office said in a press release.

Baldacci was joined in protesting the rule by Kurt Adams, chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, state Sen. John Martin, D-Aroostook, and state Rep. Jeremy Fischer, D-Presque Isle. The four participated in a conference call May 4 denouncing the proposed rule change, and the PUC filed a formal protest on the same day.

“If this idea had been allowed to go forward, Aroostook would have seen another rate increase of nearly 8 percent,” Rep. Fischer said. “That’s more than we can afford.”

In November 2006, the PUC rejected all standard offer bids for northern Maine. Citing that only one retail bidder participated, the PUC found the bids inadequate and declared a market failure.

In December 2006, the PUC accepted a standard offer bid for northern Maine. The rejection of the original standard offer bid forced the supplier to resubmit an offer at a lower price than had originally been submitted, yet a price still higher than the expired standard offer price. In fact, standard offer rates increased 45 percent effective Jan. 1, with a smaller rate increase effective July 1. The current standard offer rate for residential use is 7.89 cents per kilowatt hour and will increase to 8.25 cents in July.