An Act To Improve the Energy Efficiency of Group Homes in the Northern Part of the State
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1701
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: STANLEY, JACKSON, HERBIG, MARTIN, NADEAU, WHITE
Amends: 35-A MRSA §10109, 35-A MRSA §10119

Legislative Document
No. 1701
H.P. 1181
House of Representatives, December 22, 2017
An Act To Improve the Energy Efficiency of Group Homes in the 
Northern Part of the State
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
203.
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 19, 2017.  Referred to the Committee on 
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative STANLEY of Medway.
Cosponsored by Senator JACKSON of Aroostook and
Representatives: HERBIG of Belfast, MARTIN of Eagle Lake, NADEAU of Winslow, 
WHITE of Washburn.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §10109, sub-§4, ¶A, as amended by PL 2017, c. 282, §2, is 
further amended to read:
A.    The trust shall allocate 50% of the funds for residential programs and 50% for 
commercial and industrial programs.  Trust funds must be allocated for measures, 
investments, loans, technical assistance and arrangements that reduce electricity 
consumption, increase energy efficiency or reduce greenhouse gas emissions and 
lower energy costs at commercial or industrial facilities and for investment in 
measures that lower residential heating energy demand and reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions.  The measures that lower residential heating demand must be fuel-neutral 
and may include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency improvements to residential 
buildings and upgrades to efficient heating systems that will reduce residential energy 
costs and greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by the board.  The trust shall 
ensure that measures to reduce the cost of residential heating are available for low-
income households as defined by the trust.  The trust may use funds allocated for 
residential programs for group homes for persons with intellectual disabilities in 
Aroostook County as long as the trust limits the expenditure of these funds to $3,500 
per group home.  When promoting electricity cost and consumption reduction, the 
trust may consider measures at commercial and industrial facilities that also lower 
peak capacity demand.  Subject to the apportionment pursuant to this subsection, the 
trust shall fund conservation programs that give priority to measures with the highest 
benefit-to-cost ratio, as long as cost-effective collateral efficiency opportunities are 
not lost, and that:
(1)  Reliably reduce greenhouse gas production and heating energy costs by fossil 
fuel combustion in the State at the lowest cost in funds from the trust fund per 
unit of emissions; or
(2)  Reliably increase the efficiency with which energy in the State is consumed 
at the lowest cost in funds from the trust fund per unit of energy saved.
Notwithstanding this paragraph, during fiscal years 2017-18 to 2019-20, the trust is 
not required to allocate 50% of the funds to residential programs and 50% of the 
funds to commercial and industrial programs and may instead allocate those funds to 
programs at the trust's discretion.
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §10119, sub-§2, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 372, Pt. B, 
§3, is amended to read:
B.  Funds from the fund may be used only for programs that provide cost-effective 
energy efficiency and weatherization measures for the benefit of heating fuel 
customers or to efficiency service providers serving those customers and in 
accordance with the following.
(1) Program categories must include low-income, single-family and 2-family 
residential units, multifamily residential units, small business, commercial and 
institutional and such other categories as the trust determines appropriate.  A 
program category must include group homes for persons with intellectual 
disabilities in Aroostook County.  Such a group home is limited to receiving 
$3,500 from the fund;
(2) Within program categories, the trust may differentiate between programs for 
new construction and existing buildings; and
(3) Cost-effective energy efficiency measures must include measures that 
improve the energy efficiency of energy-using systems, such as heating and 
cooling systems, through system upgrades or conversions, including conversions 
to energy-efficient systems that rely on renewable energy sources or systems that 
rely on effective energy efficiency technologies.
SUMMARY
This bill provides that money in certain funds established in the Efficiency Maine 
Trust Act may be used to improve energy efficiency in group homes for persons with 
intellectual disabilities in Aroostook County.  These expenditures are limited to $3,500 
per group home.