AMP: Arrearage Management Program Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power each operate an AMP that assists eligible low-income residential customers who are in arrears on their electricity bills. Customers who are eligible for LIHEAP and have an arrearage of $500 or more that is at least 90 days old are eligible to participate in the program. Participating customers will have 1/12 of their arrearage amount, up to a maximum of $300, forgiven every month that they pay their current bill on time. To enroll in an AMP, customers should contact either their local Community Action Agency or their utility.
Arrearage: The state of being in arrears, or behind in the fulfillment of obligations or of being overdue in payment.
Asset Condition: An asset condition assessment (ACA) evaluates the condition of capital assets to support asset management decisions. It identifies defects, estimates remaining useful life, and guides maintenance or repairs to preserve value across assets like power lines or equipment.
Broadband Internet Service: High-speed internet access that allows users access to the internet faster than dial-up services, i.e. Wi-Fi and cable modern.
CAA: Community Action Agency. For more information about CAAs in Maine, click here.
Capital Investments: money that's spent or borrowed to acquire an asset for long-term use that's required to do business. Capital assets can range from a piece of equipment that's necessary to operate a business to thousands of acres of land required for a substation or other production facility.
CASD: Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Assistance and Safety Division.
CEP: Competitive Electricity Providers supply power as an alternative to the Standard Offer. The OPA provides a list of available CEPs at Maine.gov/SupplyRates
Coincident System Peaks: the coincident peak (CP) is a customer’s usage at the system’s maximum usage. In other words, CP is the demand for a particular selection of system users (e.g. customer(s), rate class(es)) at the time of the system’s peak demand.
Colocation: When supply and generation are at the same location. Such as with solar panels in the same location as a business.
COU: Consumer Owned Utilities are owned entirely by their ratepayers. These consumer owned utilities are operated by municipalities (towns) or quasi-governmental organizations run by a board of trustees (made up of elected, local community members).
DER: Distributed Energy Resource. Examples of distributed energy resources are solar panels.
Deregulation: The process of removing constraints, especially government-imposed economic regulation. In Maine, telecoms have become an unregulated utility meaning the PUC no longer oversees them.
Delivery: Delivery involves the transmission of power from a generating site, like a power plant to an electrical substation, then distribution to homes and businesses using the poles and wires we see every day
Distribution Costs: The cost of local delivery system maintenance.
Docket: A list of all the proceedings, filings, and deadlines in a given case.
DOER: Department of Energy Resources leads energy policy, planning, and development for the state of Maine. DOER provides policy leadership and technical assistance, develops energy programs, monitors energy markets, and reports on heating fuel and electricity prices, among other activities. DOER works in partnership with various state agencies, federal and local officials, industry, nonprofit interests, and academia on energy issues.
ECIP: Energy Crisis Intervention Program provides emergency fuel assistance to HEAP-eligible households. A household may be eligible for up to $800 in emergency funds to avert an energy crisis between November 1-April 30. Contact your local Community Action Agency to learn more, check eligibility and apply.
Electrochemical Storage: The storage of chemical energy that will later be converted to electrical energy (ex: batteries, fuel cells).
Electrolysis: An example of carbon-free hydrogen production, electrolysis is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
ELP: Electricity Lifeline Program.
EMT: Efficiency Maine Trust; a quasi-state agency dedicated to designing and implementing Maine energy efficiency programs including discounts, rebates, loans, marketing support, and demonstration programs.
Energy Procurement: The process of purchasing energy for commercial purposes based on a business’s needs and consumption patterns. The PUC holds energy procurement for the Standard Offer each fall.
EUT: The Maine Legislature’s Joint Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Technology.
ERAC: Electric Ratepayer Advisory Council; The Council is charged with evaluating the affordability of electricity in Maine and advising the Public Advocate on potential savings measures.
FCC: Federal Communications Commission; regulates the nation’s interstate and international communications, and acts as the primary authority for communications law, regulation and technological innovation.
FERC: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of natural gas, oil, and electricity. FERC also regulates natural gas and hydropower projects.
Filing Rights: The power of transmission owners to propose changes in transmission rates or terms of service by filing such changes with FERC.
Green Power: A subset of renewable energy. It represents those renewable energy resources and technologies that provide the greatest environmental benefit. Within the U.S. voluntary market, green power is defined as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.
Hydroelectric Power: Energy created by using water turbines to convert the kinetic energy of the waterflow turning a turbine’s blades into electricity.
Intervenor: A person, organization, or government entity who gets involved in a legal proceeding. At the Maine Public Utilities Commission, an intervenor becomes a party to the case.
IOU: Investor owned. These are for-profit companies that own and operate a utility.
ISO-NE: Independent System Operator for New England oversees the day-to-day operation of New England’s power grid along with the region’s competitive wholesale electricity markets.
Kilowatt-hour: A unit to measure electricity consumption; the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour; the wattage multiplied by the amount of time in hours then divided by 1000.
LIAP: Low Income Assistance Plan; Designed to aid Income-Qualified individuals in paying their electricity bills.
LiHEAP: Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
LNG: Liquified Natural Gas; gas that has been cooled to a liquid state for transportation and storage.
Moratorium: A legally authorized period of delay.
Municipal Utilities: Utilities that are owned by a city or region that works non-profit.
MSHA: Maine State Housing Authority.
NASUCA: National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates; The association consists of 62 consumer advocates from 45 states and Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia Barbados and works to support the advocates in being the voice for utility consumers.
NEB: Net Energy Billing.
NECEC: New England Clean Energy Connect.
NEPOOL: The New England Power Pool; New England’s advisor on wholesale market and transmission tariff matters designed to identify issues, provide clarity, and find solutions.
NERC: North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Founded in 1968 by representatives of the electric utility industry for the purpose of developing and promoting voluntary compliance with rules and protocols for the reliable operation of the bulk power transmission systems of North America. NERC’s mission is to improve the reliability and security of the bulk power system in the United States, Canada, and part of Mexico. The organization aims to do that by enforcing compliance with mandatory Reliability Standards. NERC is a non-governmental entity to which FERC has delegated authority to create and enforce compliance with Reliability Standards.
NESCOE: New England States Committee on Electricity. a not-for-profit entity organized under various state and federal laws. NESCOE is a Regional State Committee recognized by the FERC, governed by a board of managers appointed by the Governors of the six New England States. NESCOE focuses on two areas: resource adequacy and system planning and expansion.
NWA: Non-wires alternatives use distributed energy resources and microgrids to defer or replace the installation of more traditional “wires and poles” infrastructure.
Peak Load: The maximum of electrical power demand on the electric grid at any given point in time.
Pole Attachments: refers to any connection made by a cable television system or a telecommunications service provider to a utility-owned pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way. This connection allows providers to deliver their services to customers without needing to put up new utility poles.
PUC or MPUC: The Maine Public Utilities Commission regulates electric, natural gas, telecommunications, and water utilities to ensure that Maine consumers have access to safe, reliable services at rates that are just and reasonable for both consumers and utilities.
Rate Case: In the United States, utility ratemaking is the formal regulatory process by which public utilities set their prices (or "rates").
Rate Design: Methodology to set energy prices, balancing cost recovery with sustainability and societal goals.
Ratepayer: A customer of a public utility.
RDM: Revenue Decoupling Mechanism. In public utility regulation, decoupling refers to the disassociation of a utility's profits from its sales of an energy commodity. Instead, a rate of return is aligned with meeting revenue targets and rates are adjusted to meet the target at the end of the adjustment period.
REC: Renewable Energy Credit.
Renewable Energy: Reusable energy derived from sources that are naturally replenished, including the Sun (solar power), wind (wind power), rivers (hydroelectric power), hot springs (geothermal energy), tides (tidal power), and biomass (biofuels). Unlike fossil fuels, including natural gas, coal, and petroleum, which are finite and require millions of years to form, renewable energy sources are continually renewed on human timescales.
Sanitary District: Constructing, maintaining, operating and providing a system of sewerage, sewage and commercial and industrial waste disposal and sewage treatment and of storm and surface water drainage, for public purposes and for the health, welfare, comfort and convenience of the inhabitants of the district.
Solar Power: The transformation of sun radiation into useful energy through usage of photovoltaics (solar panels) and CSP (mirror-based systems).
Solar Project: Also known as a solar farm; an array of solar panels that generates power.
SOP: Standard Offer Provider.
Stakeholder: Refers to the individuals, groups, or entities who can affect – or be affected by – an organization’s actions. In the energy and public utilities’ context, this could mean customers, regulatory agencies, shareholders, and even the environment.
Stranded Costs: Prior to March 1, 2000, Maine's electric utilities were responsible for generating as well as delivering power. In some cases, long term contracts for the purchase of energy were signed by utilities or facilities were built by utilities that are now too expensive to compete in the competitive generation market. Because these costs were approved by the PUC at the time and may be recovered by the utility, they are now "stranded" by the move to a competitive industry. The PUC regularly conducts reviews of these costs to ensure that they are legitimate and that the utilities are making bona fide attempts to reduce them.
Standard Offer: The default electricity supply rate available to any Mainer. The price is set by the PUC where suppliers compete and bid for the right to become the default supply rate for Maine utility customers.
Storm Costs: An electricity provider’s expenses due to the repairing of power infrastructure such as wires, poles, and transformers damaged by severe weather conditions.
Supply: The actual electricity generated and sold to customers. In Maine, your electric utility does not produce electricity, it is delivered to you via the electricity distribution system.
Tariff: A utility tariff governs how an energy provider (electric or natural gas) charges the customer for their energy and natural gas usage. The amount billed is based on the unit of energy consumed, typically measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). Electric and natural gas vendors must submit their tariffs to the government for approval. Utilities must submit their proposed tariffs to a regulatory body for review and approval, such as a Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and cannot change them without approval.
Ten-Person Complaint: A complaint filed with the PUC about a utility issue that involves at least ten people, which can only be dismissed if the utility has taken satisfactory steps to resolve the problem.
Therm: A unit to measure quantities of natural gas; 100 cubic feet is equivalent to 1.038 therms.
Thermal Energy Storage: Heating or cooling a medium (water, rock, etc) and storing the created energy for later use.
Transmission Costs: The cost of high voltage lines that carry power from large generators to local delivery systems.
Transmission Owner: An entity, or where there is more than one owner, the majority of plurality owners or the managing partner, that owns an interconnected group of lines and associated equipment for the movement or transfer of electric energy between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery to customers or is delivered to other electric systems.
Weatherization: The process of upgrading a building to better protect from extreme weather; actions include sealing holes and cracks in windows and doors, repairing windows, and checking heating/air conditioning systems.
WISC: Water Infrastructure Surcharge; a temporary fee charged by water utilities to recover from large spending on necessary improvement projects.
Wind Power: Energy created by using wind turbines to convert the kinetic energy of the wind turning a turbine’s blades into electricity.