An Act To Allow Owners and Renters To Use Future Electric Bill Payments To Finance Heat Pumps
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1264
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: LAWRENCE
Amends: 35-A MRSA §3105

Legislative Document
No. 1264
S.P. 415
In Senate, March 29, 2021
An Act To Allow Owners and Renters To Use Future Electric Bill 
Payments To Finance Heat Pumps
Received by the Secretary of the Senate on March 25, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator LAWRENCE of York.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §3105, sub-§4 is enacted to read:
4.  Financing agreement.  A transmission and distribution utility may enter into a 
written agreement with a customer for the financing of the purchase price and installation 
costs of an efficient electric heat pump under this section.  The agreement may provide that 
the price and costs may be recovered by a finance charge on the monthly bill for the 
customer's electricity account and must plainly state any interest charged on the amount 
financed.  A failure to pay the finance charge may be treated as a failure to pay the 
electricity bill, and the transmission and distribution utility may disconnect that customer's 
service or seek any other remedy for nonpayment provided by section 704.  The finance 
charge must be shown on a separate line on the monthly bill.  The agreement may allow 
the transmission and distribution utility to assess the finance charge on a subsequent 
purchaser of the property on which the efficient electric heat pump is installed if at the time 
the agreement is entered into the utility files a notice of the agreement and finance charge 
in the registry of deeds of the county in which the property is located.  The agreement may 
allow the transmission and distribution utility to assess the finance charge on a subsequent 
renter of the unit rented by a customer who is a tenant if at the time the agreement is entered 
into the agreement is signed by the tenant's landlord or the owner of the property on which 
the heat pump is installed and the utility files a notice of the agreement and finance charge 
in the registry of deeds of the county in which the property is located.  Notice required to 
be filed under this subsection does not constitute a lien on the property.  The rate of any 
interest charged on financing under this subsection must be a fixed rate over the term of 
the agreement and may not exceed 4% above the stated yield for a one-year treasury bill as 
published by the Federal Reserve System at the time the agreement is entered into.  Any 
indebtedness created under this subsection may be paid in full at any time before it is due 
without penalty.
SUMMARY
This bill allows a transmission and distribution utility to enter into a financing 
agreement with a customer for the purchase price and installation costs of an efficient 
electric heat pump and receive payment through subsequent charges on the customer's 
electric bill.  The agreement may provide for payment by a subsequent purchaser of the 
property on which the heat pump is located or by a subsequent renter of the tenant's unit if 
the tenant's landlord or the owner of the property signs the agreement.