MPUC TO HOLD PUBLIC WITNESS HEARING ON BANGOR HYDRO STRANDED COST RATE CASE IN BANGOR
March 9, 2011
Hallowell, Maine— On Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. at the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson College, in Bangor, Maine, the Maine Public Utilities Commission will hold a public witness hearing regarding Bangor Hydro Electric Company’s recovery of revenue associated with stranded costs.
Bangor Hydro submitted a proposed rate increase with the Public Utilities Commission in December 2010. In this filing, Bangor Hydro proposed an annual increase of its current stranded cost revenue requirement of $5.025 million or a 34.12% for the three year period commencing March 1, 2011. This would result in a 41.21% increase to the rates associated with stranded costs, which are one component of the delivery rates associated with electric service. The proposed increase would translate into an overall increase in BHE’s delivery rate (transmission, distribution and stranded costs) of 4.6%. Bangor Hydro’s proposal is currently the subject of an adjudicatory proceeding pending at the Commission.
The purpose of the public hearing is to provide electricity customers in Bangor Hydro’s service territory with an opportunity to provide comments on the proposed rate change. “This public hearing gives the Commission an opportunity to hear the views of concerned citizens about the proposed rate increase,” noted Commissioner Vendean Vafiades.
Background: Following enactment of Maine’s Electricity Restructuring Act, the Commission has reviewed and approved stranded cost rates for Bangor Hydro and other Maine transmission and distribution utilities on several prior occasions. In the case of Bangor Hydro, stranded cost rates were last set under Docket No 2006-661 for the three year stranded cost rate period from March 1, 2008 through February 28, 2011. The present proceeding will establish the new revenue requirement and rate treatment that will govern recovery of stranded costs for the new three year period beginning on March 1, 2011.
To view Bangor Hydro’s filing and other documents in the case, go to the Commission website (www.maine.gov/mpuc) and access the Virtual Case File. Enter docket number 2010-377 in the Case ID field to retrieve available documents. To write to the Commission, send a letter (referencing Docket Number 2010-377) with the Commission’s Administrative Director, Karen Geraghty, at the Commission, 18 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0018.
Contact: Evelyn deFrees, 207-287-6141 or evelyn.defrees@maine.gov
