95- 648 C.M.R. ch. 2, § 3

Current through 2024-51, December 18, 2024

Section 648-2-3 - DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM BUDGETS

A. Budget Planning. The trustees shall establish a twelve-month budget for all Trust operational and administrative costs following consultations with the Department, the Commission, the Office of Energy Independence and Security and the Maine Energy Conservation Board. The twelve-month period for a budget shall be determined by the trustees, need not correspond to the State fiscal year or a calendar year and shall to the extent possible, unless changed circumstances warrant otherwise, reflect the priorities established in the most recent Triennial Energy Efficiency and Conservation Plan adopted pursuant to 35-A M.R.S.A. §10007(6) and § 10008(7). Any individual program areas targeted for funding in the budget period shall be identified.

B. Budget Components. Each twelve-month budget shall include but is not limited to the following components:

1. Expected total amount of funding in the Trust Fund from all sources, including any revenue generated by Trust-funded programs pursuant to subsection G of this section;

2. Costs of administering the Trust, and for the State's share of expenses of the Regional Organization's management of carbon dioxide allowance auctions during the budget period, provided that such costs may not exceed the ceiling on administrative funds established at 35-A M.R.S.A. §10008 ((6)(G);

3. Amount of funding expected to be available for programs or projects selected through an RFP, PON or other authorized process and awarded to grantees;

4. Amount of funding required by the Department to fund research for development of new categories of carbon dioxide emission offset projects pursuant to 35-A M.R.S.A. §10008(6);

5. Amount of funding expected to be provided to the Maine Energy Conservation Board pursuant to 35-A M.R.S.A. §10008(6)(K);

6. Amount of funding to be held in reserve in the current budget year, for use in a future twelve-month period or to be rebated to customers of transmission and distribution utilities pursuant to 35-A M.R.S.A. §10008(5); and

7. Any other amount of funding that the Trust intends to disburse in the budget year.

C. Sector Participation. To the extent practicable, the trustees will seek to ensure opportunity for members of all customer classes of transmission and distribution utilities and all economic sectors of the State to apply for funding from the Trust and to achieve balance in the award of contracts for projects and programs among such classes and sectors. In seeking to achieve such balance, the trustees may consider whether and to what extent it may be achieved through reliance on other sources of public funding available to a customer class.

D. Funding Criteria. Except when otherwise allowed by sections 4(B) and 4(C) of this Chapter, priority for funding under section 7 of this Chapter shall be given to programs and projects that:

1. Reliably reduce greenhouse gas production by fossil fuel combustion in the State at a cost in Trust Funds per unit of emissions that is lower than other bids or proposals; or

2. Reliably reduce the consumption of electricity in the State at a cost in Trust Funds per kilowatt-hour saved that is lower than other bids or proposals provided that the Trust may calculate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and reductions in consumption of electricity on a basis other than simply reductions from current levels when the Trust determines it is appropriate to calculate reductions from the level of greenhouse gas emissions or consumption of electricity that would exist if alternative, less efficient technologies were used for the program or project instead of the technologies proposed by the applicant.

E. Trustee Discretion; Targeting of Funds. The trustees may target programs or individual projects to a particular geographic area of the State, to a particular customer class or a particular subset of a customer class, and to a particular sector of the State's economy, provided that any such program or project must satisfy the threshold test for screening and evaluation that is set out in section 5 of this Chapter. For purposes of this subsection, the determination as to whether the cost effectiveness test set out in subsection D of this section has been satisfied will be made in relationship to other programs or projects in the same customer class or subset of a customer class, in the same sector of the economy or in the same geographic area.

F. Fossil Fuel Expenditure Cap. In any budget year, the trustees may not allocate a larger amount of the actual and projected Trust Fund dollars to fossil fuel conservation programs than is allowed by 35-A M.R.S.A. §10008(6)(B).

G. Revenue Generated by a Trust-funded Project or Program. In the case of a project or program that receives revenue from a Forward Capacity Market, from a Regional Transmission Organization or any other entity, that would not have been received in the absence of Trust funding, such revenue belongs to the Trust on the basis of Trust funding pro rata to the project's or program's total costs.

95- 648 C.M.R. ch. 2, § 3