For most of the State of Maine distribution and supply of electricity were separated in March 2000 at the time of restructuring of the electricity industry in Maine. Investor owned electric utilities were required to divest themselves of their generation assets. Utility companies continued to be responsible for providing the distribution of electricity, operation and maintenance of transmission lines, and billing, while the supply of electricity was opened up to licensed competitive suppliers. Distributors and suppliers of electricity continue to be regulated by the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

For more specific information regarding Maine's electricity restructuring rules go to the MPUC web page.

Delivery: Utilities (Central Maine Power, Bangor Hydro etc.) no longer generate or supply electricity, with the exception of some small utility companies that were exempt from deregulation such as Kennebunk Power & Light.  Utilities continue to own and maintain poles and lines, and are responsible for all delivery and repair aspects of electricity in the State of Maine.   Utilities bill for the delivery of electricity and provide supply billing for the standard offer supplier and most competitive suppliers

Supply: Electricity can no longer be supplied by your utility and is available only from licensed Competitive Electricity Suppliers.  Supply choices are either default service through the standard offer supplier or through a contract with a licensed electricity supplier.

		Standard Offer Service (Default Service) Electricity supply is available without contract through Standard Offer Service for all electric customers in Maine.  In the Maine Public Service, Central Maine Power and Bangor Hydro Electric distribution areas standard offer service is set through a bid process conducted by the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
		Competitive Supply Consumers can contract for supply through licensed competitive electricity suppliers.  To receive competitive supply you must actively seek an alternative to the standard offer default service and contract for supply through a licensed competitive supplier.

All Suppliers must give you the same information about services they provide, including resource mix and air emissions. This information is charted on a label-much like the nutrition labels found on foods-and must be provided to you annually.

            Bill copies are used by MPO to:

• verify account numbers and obtain meter numbers

• obtain utility assigned supply Rate Class names & codes to properly categorize, track and price accounts

• obtain the account "Service Address" (often different from physical or mailing address)

• provide to suppliers for enrollment of contracted accounts when a contract is executed by a member

Delivery rate class and supply rate class can be different and it is critical for competitive pricing to have the supply rate class and corresponding rate class account codes.

• Bill layouts vary depending on the Utility but the basic information remains the same.

• Delivery and supply charges are billed separately.

• Delivery Rate Codes and Supply Rate Codes can be different!

• Delivery charges are listed on the first page of bills followed by supply charges on subsequent pages.

• Identifying the correct supply rate code is critical for obtaining correct competitive pricing.  

• In the case of CMP and BHE accounts in the Large and Industrial rate classes, suppliers use 15 minute interval data provided by the Utility (through MPO) to price the account.    

For more information on how to read your bill, click on the link below.

Supply and Delivery Rate Codes are assigned by the distribution company based on the electricity usage and attributes of service. Each account has two rate codes; a delivery rate code and supply rate code, which can be different!  Each Distribution Utility determines their own parameters for characterizing accounts while staying within the boundaries of some industry norms. Utilities have set up thousands of possible rate codes fine-tuned for specific account characteristics and in some cases special delivery contract arrangements. As an example, Central Maine Power could classify an account as Medium Rate Class for their delivery rates, but the account could be a Large Rate Class account for supply categorization purposes.  Account rate classification can be confusing so it is critical that MPO reviews a bill copy for an account to assure proper identification of the rate class of the account. 

The supply rate is one tool MPO and suppliers use to help provide pricing for an account. Accounts break down into 6 general classes and examples of possible rate coding:

• Residential Service  (Res, A1000)

• Small Non-Residential Service (A2000, A2006)

• Medium Service (MGS, MS, C3000, BSVA BSPA)

• Large/Large Commercial Service (C3006, LGS)

• Industrial/Small Industrial Service (C5020, Ind, IGS)

• Lighting (SL, AL)

Please call MPO if you have questions about the rate class of a specific account, or rate codes in general.