The Maine Public Utilities Commission has approved higher rates for customers of Versant Power that take effect July 1.
Under the new rates, a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours of electricity in Versant’s Bangor Hydro District can expect to pay roughly 31 cents more per month. A customer using the same amount of electricity in the Maine Public District will see an increase of roughly $2.80 per month, according to the commission.
Versant Power serves northern and eastern Maine. The Bangor Hydro District includes Greater Bangor, Hancock County and coastal communities Down East. The Maine Public District is primarily in Aroostook County.
The increases approved by the commission include a reconciliation for “stranded costs,” mostly related to Maine’s policy-driven clean energy goals, which utilities can’t necessarily recover in the competitive electricity market, according to the commission.
Utilities estimate these costs then reconcile them with the commission each year, comparing the actual costs with what they charged customers.
Included in the stranded cost calculation is a $3 million penalty imposed on Versant Power for failing to meet the commission’s benchmarks for reliability and performance.
According to the commission, that penalty will be credited back to ratepayers through stranded cost reconciliation, which will reduce customer bills.
The July 1 rates also include increases to efficiency charges, increases to distribution revenue decoupling mechanism (RDM) charges — RDM is a formula that makes adjustments to a utility’s rates to reflect changes in sales levels — and an increase to transmission charges for customers in Versant’s Maine Public District.
The Public Utilities Commission recently approved rate increases for the state’s other major electrical utility, Central Maine Power, which serves most of central and southern Maine.
