An Act To Prohibit an Electric Utility from Charging a Customer for Using an Electromechanical Meter
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 0229
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: MIRAMANT, SIROCKI, BELLOWS, CARSON, MILLETT, O'CONNOR, PARRY, WADSWORTH, WARREN
Amends: 35-A MRSA §3104, 35-A MRSA §3106

Legislative Document
No. 229
S.P. 75
In Senate, January 24, 2017
An Act To Prohibit an Electric Utility from Charging a Customer 
for Using an Electromechanical Meter
Reference to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology suggested and ordered 
printed.
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox.
Cosponsored by Representative SIROCKI of Scarborough and
Senators: BELLOWS of Kennebec, CARSON of Cumberland, MILLETT of Cumberland, 
Representatives: O'CONNOR of Berwick, PARRY of Arundel, WADSWORTH of Hiram, 
WARREN of Hallowell.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §3104, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 412, §1, is 
amended to read: 
2.  Requirement.  An Except as provided in this section, an investor-owned 
transmission and distribution utility shall adopt and ordinarily follow as a general 
operating policy a schedule of reading customer meters on a monthly basis.  Any 
investor-owned transmission and distribution utility that plans to adopt a different policy, 
such as bimonthly meter readings or meter readings in accordance with subsection 3, 
must receive prior approval of the commission. 
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §3104, sub-§3 is enacted to read: 
3.  Meter reading and billing option.  An investor-owned transmission and 
distribution utility may, with the prior approval of the commission, adopt in accordance 
with this subsection a meter reading and billing policy for customers using 
electromechanical meters, as defined in section 3106, that involves reading customer 
meters as infrequently as once every 12 months.  The policy may not involve reading 
meters less frequently than once every 12 months.  The policy may include a monthly 
billing method that bases charges on an average of the customer's previous actual 
electricity consumption over a period of up to 18 months.  The policy may provide for 
meter readings by a customer between readings by the utility if the utility provides 
guidance to the customer on how to read a meter and a method that does not impose a 
cost on the customer for the customer to provide the readings to the utility.  The policy 
must establish a process by which the utility provides a refund to a customer if a billing 
based on average usage results in an overpayment by a customer and an appropriate 
rebilling of a customer if such a billing results in an underpayment by the customer.   The 
commission may adopt routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, 
subchapter 2-A to implement this subsection. 
Sec. 3.  35-A MRSA §3106 is enacted to read: 
§3106.  Smart meter opt-out fees and charges prohibited 
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, the following terms have the following 
meanings. 
A.  "Electromechanical meter" means a meter used to measure electricity 
consumption that is not a wireless smart meter. 
B.  "Wireless smart meter" means an electronic metering device to measure 
electricity consumption that reports that consumption by wireless, radio frequency 
communication. 
2.  Prohibition.  A transmission and distribution utility may not charge a customer a 
fee, monthly charge or higher rate for declining the installation of a wireless smart meter 
or for the removal of a wireless smart meter. A transmission and distribution utility may 
not charge a customer for costs associated with that customer's choosing an 
electromechanical meter. 
All costs incurred by a transmission and distribution utility as a result of a customer's 
choosing an electromechanical meter are just and reasonable for rate-making purposes. 
SUMMARY 
This bill prohibits a transmission and distribution utility from charging a customer a 
fee, monthly charge or higher rate for declining the installation of a wireless smart meter 
or for the removal of a wireless smart meter. A transmission and distribution utility is 
prohibited from including any costs associated with a customer's choosing an 
electromechanical meter in rates charged to that customer. 
With approval by the Public Utilities Commission, an investor-owned transmission 
and distribution utility may decrease the number of times an electromechanical meter is 
read for a customer that declines the installation of a wireless smart meter but may not 
read the meter less frequently than once every 12 months and may establish a rate 
collection method that is based upon the average electricity consumption of the customer. 
If a transmission and distribution utility prefers a more frequent electromechanical meter 
reading, the utility may establish a method for a customer to provide the utility with a 
more frequent electromechanical meter reading, as long as the method does not impose a 
cost on the customer. This bill requires the utility to establish a process by which the 
utility provides a refund to a customer if a billing based on average usage results in an 
overpayment by a customer and an appropriate rebilling of a customer if such a billing 
results in an underpayment by the customer.