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Amend the amendment by striking out all of section 2.
Amend the amendment by striking out all of section 4 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 4.  35-A MRSA §3210-C, sub-§13  is enacted to read:
 
13.  Contracts to ensure lower rates.     In accordance with this subsection, the commission may direct investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to enter into contracts with electricity resources for the purpose of reducing the price of electricity to ratepayers. Except for the requirements of subsection 3, paragraph C, contracts under this subsection are not governed by the provisions of subsection 3.
 
A.  The commission shall ensure that a contract under this subsection requires the price for electric energy purchased under the contract to be at least 10% less than the applicable market clearing price at the time of delivery, as determined by the commission by rule, except that if the commission determines that a discount price closer to the applicable market clearing price is necessary to achieve the purposes of this section, the commission may by rule establish a lower discount.
 
B.  The commission may not require contracts entered into under this subsection to involve in the aggregate an amount of electric energy that exceeds 10% of the total statewide electric energy load, as determined by the commission by rule.
 
C.  The commission may not require an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility to enter into any contract under this subsection that has a term that exceeds 20 years.
 
D.  The commission may require an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility to enter into a contract for electric energy and associated renewable energy credits, with appropriate valuation of each component, consistent with the other requirements of this subsection.
 
E.  The commission may not require investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to enter into contracts under this subsection with renewable capacity resources, as defined in section 3210, subsection 2, paragraph B-3, subparagraph (3), that in the aggregate exceed, in any year during the term of the contract, 50% of that portion of the total statewide portfolio requirement as established under section 3210, subsection 3-A that is greater than the total statewide portfolio requirement established under section 3210 for the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
 
F.  An investor-owned transmission and distribution utility shall sell entitlements for capacity, energy and renewable energy credits purchased pursuant to this subsection as directed by the commission.
 
G.  The commission shall ensure that an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility recovers in rates all costs of contracts entered into pursuant to this subsection, including but not limited to any impacts on the utility's costs of capital.
 
The commission shall adopt rules implementing this subsection and defining when a source of electric generation that is subject to a contract entered into under this subsection qualifies as a renewable capacity resource under section 3210, subsection 2, paragraph B-3, subparagraph (3) or a renewable resource under section 3210, subsection 2, paragraph C, subparagraph (3). Rules adopted under this subsection are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.’
Amend the amendment by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment modifies Committee Amendment "B" as follows.
1. It provides that the new contracts with electricity resources for the purposes of reducing the price of electricity to ratepayers must comply with the current requirement that the price paid by the investor-owned transmission and distribution utility for any renewable energy credits must be lower than the price received for those renewable energy credits at the time they are sold by the transmission and distribution utility.
2. It removes the provision that allows a generator whose total power production capacity exceeds 100 megawatts to qualify as a renewable resource under the so-called Class 2 portfolio requirement under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3210, subsection 3.
3. It limits the amount of electricity that can be contracted from generators whose total power production capacity exceeds 100 megawatts, to the extent those generators, as a result of the contracts, are allowed to qualify for the so-called Class 1 portfolio requirement under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 3210, subsection 3-A. In the aggregate such contracts may not in any year account for more than 50% of the annual incremental increases in the total statewide Class 1 portfolio requirement over the amount currently established for 2012. The 2012 Class 1 portfolio requirement amounts to 5% of supply resources. This portfolio requirement is currently scheduled to increase by 1% each year until it reaches 10% in 2017. Under this current schedule, up to 50% of each year's 1% increase, or up to .5% of supply resources in 2013 and up to .5% additionally each year thereafter, may be under contract with generators whose total power production capacity exceeds 100 megawatts.