Whereas, the law governing certain contracts affected by electric industry restructuring needs to be modified immediately to address certain unanticipated developments; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. PL 1997, c. 316, §6 is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

*Sec. 6.__Qualifying facility contracts tied to retail tariffs.__Certain contracts for the sale of energy, or energy and capacity, by qualifying facilities contain terms that establish or adjust the purchase rate based upon the retail tariff rate or changes to that retail tariff rate paid by the qualifying facility to the electric utility for its purchases of electricity or upon reference to a particular retail tariff rate or changes in such retail tariff rate.__The Legislature finds that after the date of retail access as provided for in this Act, a question may arise as to whether there is a retail tariff rate that provides for a comparable standard for sale of combined generation and transmission or distribution services.__Following the implementation of retail access as provided for in this Act, the Public Utilities Commission shall, at the request of a qualifying facility or a utility that is a party to such a contract, establish a contract rate as follows.

1.__For contracts that involve arrangements for the simultaneous purchase and sale of electricity:

A. For years in which the utility has sold the output of the qualifying facility contract pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3204, subsection 4 and the qualifying facility has, as of the effective date of this paragraph, contracted for retail power supply, the commission shall establish or adjust the contract rate based on the annual change, determined on a monthly basis, in the average of the total price paid for electric services by all retail customers in the utility's service territory taking service at the same voltage level as the qualifying facility.__For purposes of this paragraph, the term "annual