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July 27, 2009 From the Ground Up

Misuse of power | PUC puts CMP through the wringer, placing jobs and reliability at risk

By John O'dea

Even though the first regular session of the Maine Legislature has adjourned, a number of important policy discussions are playing out that have an effect on Maine’s business community. Of these, none has a better opportunity to improve Maine’s business climate, and the number of jobs in the state, than the Maine Power Reliability Project.

The MPRP was designed over a period of four years by dozens of engineers and transmission system experts hired by Central Maine Power. In a regulatory filing that is over 4 feet tall, CMP makes the case that the best way to ensure the future reliability of our electrical grid is through a series of upgrades around the state. If the plan is executed, 92% of the $1.5 billion cost will be borne by out-of-state rate payers.

Despite the thousands of construction workers currently out of work, and the fact that Maine’s transmission system, designed and built more than 40 years ago, is no longer stable, the state’s regulatory apparatus seems unable to move the project forward in a timely manner. The process seems to have devolved into “analysis paralysis.”

Instead of simply determining whether the upgrades are needed to maintain the reliability of Maine’s transmission system, PUC staffers are routinely trying to out-engineer the engineers. As a result, a $1.5 billion construction project is being delayed yet again as armchair experts try to find a $29 gadget that will help Maine’s transmission system get the proverbial 100 miles per gallon. It is a commonly accepted adage in Maine’s outlying counties that you don’t learn anything from the second kick of the mule. Let’s look at the last “kick” CMP received from the PUC in its quest to maintain the reliability of our transmission system.

Back to square one

On Aug. 31, 2006, CMP filed a petition for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for approval of a new 7.5 mile-long line across Saco to Old Orchard Beach. It would have replaced an existing line, part of which runs through a residential neighborhood.

It took 33 months for the PUC to issue its final order granting approval for the $29 million upgrade. During the CPCN proceeding, the PUC staff used a technical consultant who undertook his own extensive “design” process in which he required CMP’s planning group to work directly with him to produce many modeling runs so that he could come up with his own design for the project.

Not to be outdone, the commission’s staff also redesigned the project themselves. They rejected the consultant’s design and proposed an entirely different route that would take the line through to Old Orchard Beach by way of Scarborough.

The three commissioners were confronted with the original proposal, the staff proposal and the consultant’s proposal. They rejected the PUC staff’s recommendation and ordered them to provide additional analysis of the available options.

The PUC ultimately supported most of CMP’s original proposal in the same right of way CMP originally proposed. The only major difference is that one of the two lines on the double circuit towers will be operated at 34.5 kV, at least initially until CMP needs to upgrade it to operate at 115kV.

Policymakers, including each gubernatorial candidate, should ponder what public benefit there is in a regulatory process that takes a public utility on a 33-month-long adventure only to arrive at the same point where it began. It is time to trust the professionals and recognize that the engineers who designed the MPRP knew what they were doing.

Today, the PUC is still grappling with the Maine Power Reliability Project. The commission, which was required by law to make a recommendation by July, now says they may not finish their review before early 2010. In June, CMP asked the commission to expedite the settlement process and move the regulatory proceedings to a conclusion. So, the commission’s staff has asked another round of questions of the utility. Early July has come and gone and it appears that we are still months away from a decision, frustrating CMP, the construction industry, investors in renewable energy and presumably Gov. John Baldacci, who has said repeatedly that he expected a decision by early July.

We need to recognize that this regulatory process is not working for us. It is difficult to imagine who it is helping, besides the PUC staff, consultants and attorneys. Maine ratepayers, consumers and investors in renewable energy all need the PUC to move off the dime, as do the thousands of unemployed construction workers who could use the work keeping the lights on for all of us.

John O’Dea is executive director of Associated General Contractors of Maine. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz.

 

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