Resolve, To Encourage Business Development by Creating Limits on the Time Certain Utilities May Hold a Business Customer’s Deposit

Sec. 1. Rules on business customers' deposits. Resolved: That the Public Utilities Commission shall amend its rule, Chapter 815: Consumer Protection Standards For Electric And Gas Transmission And Distribution Utilities, to require that deposits paid by small businesses with impeccable bill-paying histories be returned to those businesses after a reasonable time period. The commission may consider establishing different rules for different-sized utilities to account for differences in the risk to other ratepayers associated with defaults by businesses. The commission may consider basing eligibility for return of a deposit on the size of the deposit that was required of the business, such as a business whose deposit was less than $10,000. The commission shall establish a reasonable time period, such as 5 years, before a business is eligible for a return of the deposit. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are major substantive rules pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A and must be provisionally adopted by January 15, 2012.