Code of Maine Rules › 65 - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION › 407 - PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION › Chapter 304 - STANDARDS OF CONDUCT FOR TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES AND AFFILIATED COMPETITIVE ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS › Section 407-304-3 - STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. No Preference. A
				distribution utility may not, through a tariff provision or otherwise, give its
				affiliated competitive provider or customers of its affiliated competitive
				provider preference over nonaffiliated competitive electricity providers or
				customers of nonaffiliated competitive electricity providers in matters
				relating to any regulated product or service.
B. Service Provided Without Discrimination.
				All regulated products and services offered by a distribution utility,
				including any discount, rebate or fee waiver, must be available to all
				customers and competitive electricity providers simultaneously to the extent
				technically possible and without undue or unreasonable discrimination. Nothing
				in this Chapter prevents a distribution utility from entering into a special
				contract offering a special rate to a customer or group of customers pursuant
				to a rate flexibility program approved by the Public Utilities Commission under
				the Maine
				
				35-A M.R.S.A.
				§3195(6).
C. Posting. A distribution utility may not
				sell or otherwise provide regulated products or services to its affiliated
				competitive provider without either simultaneously posting the offering
				electronically on the distribution utility's Internet web site or otherwise
				making a sufficient offering to the market for that product or service.
				Provision of the product or service under the terms of a filed tariff
				constitutes a sufficient offering. Otherwise, a sufficient offering to the
				market must be approved by the Commission before the distribution utility sells
				or provides the product or service to its affiliated competitive
				provider.
D. Requests for Regulated
				Products. A distribution utility shall process all similar requests for a
				regulated product or service in the same manner and within the same period of
				time.
E. No Tying. A distribution
				utility may not condition or tie the provision of any regulated product,
				service or rate agreement by the distribution utility to the provision of any
				product or service in which an affiliated competitive provider is
				involved.
F. Requests for
				Information. A distribution utility shall process all similar requests for
				information in the same manner and within the same period of time. A
				distribution utility may not provide information to an affiliated competitive
				provider without a request when information is made available to nonaffiliated
				competitive electricity providers only upon request. A distribution utility may
				not allow an affiliated competitive provider preferential access to any
				nonpublic information regarding the distribution system, customers taking
				service from the distribution utility, or any other nonpublic information that
				the utility has obtained as a result of its status as a provider of core
				utility services that is not made available to nonaffiliated competitive
				electricity providers upon request. A distribution utility shall instruct all
				of its employees not to provide any competitive electricity provider
				preferential access to nonpublic information.
G. Employees. Employees of a distribution
				utility may not share with any competitive electricity provider:
1. Any market information acquired from any
				other competitive electricity provider, other than information that is
				generally publicly available, without the permission of the competitive
				electricity provider from which the information was acquired; or
2. Any market information developed by the
				distribution utility in the course of responding to requests for distribution
				service, other than information that is generally publicly available.