‘Resolve, Directing the Public Utilities Commission To Conduct a Study To Identify Alternatives to Electric Distribution System Upgrades’

‘Sec. 1. Report. Resolved: That the Public Utilities Commission, referred to in this section as "the commission," in consultation with the State's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities, the Efficiency Maine Trust and others shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters by January 7, 2015. The purpose of the report is to identify areas of stress or areas with reliability deficiencies in the transmission and distribution system, including all transmission, subtransmission and distribution system upgrades and investments subject to state jurisdiction, as early as possible in order to allow sufficient time to plan and implement more cost-effective alternatives to building or upgrading distribution lines to meet reliability needs. In the report, the commission shall:

1. Identify, using a 10-year projection, existing and potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies of the State's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities' transmission and distribution systems by location within this State and display those areas on one or more maps;

2. Prioritize the areas of stress or reliability deficiencies identified in subsection 1 based on estimates of the times and circumstances under which these areas would require transmission, subtransmission or distribution system build-out or upgrades in absence of further action;

3. Describe the likely manner of resolving the deficiencies in areas prioritized in subsection 2 through transmission, subtransmission or distribution system build-out or upgrades, including the likely costs;

4. Describe under which circumstances distributed generation, demand response, energy efficiency or other nondistribution strategies or nontransmission strategies might address the deficiencies at a lower cost than the costs identified in subsection 3;

5. Recommend an appropriate year for the existing and potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies in this State to be reevaluated; and

6. Provide any other information or recommendations the commission considers relevant to policy decisions related to using distributed generation, demand response, energy efficiency or other nondistribution alternatives or nontransmission strategies to address potential areas of stress or reliability deficiencies in transmission, subtransmission or distribution systems in this State.

The joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters may report out a bill related to the subject matter of the report to the First Regular Session of the 127th Legislature.’