Code of Maine Rules › 65 - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION › 407 - PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION › Chapter 314 - STATEWIDE LOW INCOME ASSISTANCE PLAN › Section 407-314-1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Scope of Rule
This Chapter applies to all transmission and distribution
				  utilities in the State except those transmission and distribution utilities
				  exempt from electric restructuring pursuant to Title
				  35-A M.R.S.
				  §3202(6).
B.
Definitions
1.
Apportionment
"Apportionment" is the amount of money that a transmission
				  and distribution utility shall spend annually on its LIAP. The amount of each
				  transmission and distribution utility's apportionment is established by
				  Commission order.
2.
Apportionment Rate
"Apportionment rate" is the percentage of the Statewide
				  Low-Income Assistance Plan fund to which a transmission and distribution
				  utility is entitled.
Apportionment rates are established by Commission
				  order.
3.
Assessment
"Assessment" is the amount of revenue that each transmission
				  and distribution utility must contribute annually to the cost of the Statewide
				  Low-Income Assistance Plan. Each transmission and distribution utility's
				  assessment is established by Commission order.
4.
CASD
"CASD" is an acronym that stands for the "Consumer Assistance
				  and Safety Division" of the Commission.
5.
Carry-Forward Amount
"Carry-forward amount" is the total amount of apportioned
				  funds that were unspent or uncommitted in one LIAP program year and are
				  available for use in a future LIAP program year.
6.
Commission
"Commission" is the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
7.
Community Action
				Agency
"Community Action Agency" is a private nonprofit agency that
				  is designated by and authorized to accept funds from the Federal Community
				  Services Administration under the
Federal Economic Opportunity Act of
				  1964
.
8.
DHHS
"DHHS" is an acronym that stands for the Maine Department of
				  Health and Human Services.
9.
Federal Poverty Guidelines
"Federal Poverty Guidelines" are guidelines established by
				  the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services
				  adjusted annually on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
				  Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion
				  by Medicaid and a number of other Federal programs. The federal poverty
				  guidelines are a simplified version of the federal poverty thresholds that the
				  Census Bureau uses to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and
				  families in poverty.
10.
LIAP
"LIAP" is an acronym that stands for "Low-Income Assistance
				  Program," which is a program to assist qualified low-income customers pay their
				  electric bills.
Collectively, the LIAPs constitute the Statewide Low-Income
				  Assistance Plan. An existing Low-Income Assistance Program is a LIAP.
11.
LIAP Program Year
"LIAP program year" is the period between October 1st and the
				  following September 30th.
12.
LIHEAP
"LIHEAP" is an acronym that stands for "Low-Income Home
				  Energy Assistance Program," which is a federally funded program that provides
				  financial assistance grants to needy households for home energy bills and is
				  implemented by the Maine State Housing Authority.
13.
Lump Sum Benefit Program
A "Lump Sum Benefit Program" is a LIAP that uses a formula
				  to calculate an annual customer benefit amount
14.
Means-Tested Program
A "means-tested program" is an assistance program that
				  measures a family's income against the federal poverty line to determine
				  eligibility for participation in the program.
15.
MSHA
"MSHA" is an acronym that stands for the Maine State Housing
				  Authority.
16.
Oxygen
				Pump
An "oxygen pump," also referred to as an "oxygen
				  concentrator," is an electrical device used to provide oxygen to a person for
				  breathing at substantially higher concentrations than those of ambient
				  air.
17.
Participant
A "participant" is a customer who is enrolled in a
				  LIAP.
18.
Percentage
				of Income Program
A "percentage of income program" or "PIP" is a LIAP under
				  which a customer's transmission and distribution utility costs are based on a
				  predetermined percentage of the customer's total household income. Transmission
				  and distribution utility costs that exceed the predetermined percentage of
				  total household income are paid as a benefit.
19.
Physician
"Physician" is any natural person authorized by law to
				  practice medicine or osteopathy in Maine.
20.
Residential Customer
"Residential Customer" is any person who has applied for,
				  been accepted for, and is receiving residential service from a transmission and
				  distribution utility or has agreed to be billed for residential service from a
				  transmission and distribution utility. This term also includes a person who was
				  a customer of the same transmission and distribution utility within the past
				  thirty days and who requests service at the same or a different
				  location.
21.
Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan
"Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan" comprises the
				  individual LIAPs that are being offered by the transmission and distribution
				  utilities in the State in accordance with this Chapter.
22.
Transmission and Distribution
				Utility
"Transmission and distribution utility" means a person, its
				  lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by a court, owning,
				  controlling, operating or managing a transmission and distribution plant for
				  compensation within the State, except where the electricity is distributed by
				  the entity that generates the electricity through private property alone solely
				  for that entity's own use or the use of the entity's tenants and not for sale
				  to others.
23.
Ventilator
"Ventilator" means equipment used to mechanically assist
				  breathing by delivering air to the lungs. Ventilators, as defined, do not
				  include Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) or Bi-Level Positive Airway
				  Pressure (Bi-Pap) machines.
a.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
CPAP machine provides air at one continuous prescribed
				  pressure to the patient so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible. It
				  does not breathe for the patient.
b.
Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure
				(Bi-Pap)
Bi-Pap machine provides air at two levels of pressure: one
				  for inhalation and a lower pressure during exhalation. It does not breathe for
				  the patient.