Background
Berwick Solar and Central Maine Power Company entered into a standard-form agreement for connecting Berwick Solar’s photovoltaic facility to CMP’s distribution system. Berwick Solar paid the estimated interconnection cost of $65,522 plus SCADA costs, and the project became operational in May 2021. Berwick Solar had declined a facilities study that would have produced a more detailed estimate.
CMP did not provide its final reconciliation statement within either the 60-business-day period established by the governing regulation or the agreement’s 90-day period. Beginning in February 2022, CMP issued three statements seeking progressively lower additional amounts: $45,502.73, $27,655.83, and finally $23,655.83. Berwick Solar argued that the delay eliminated its obligation to pay, challenged the documentation supporting the charges, and disputed pooled costs. The Public Utilities Commission dismissed the complaint, although it advised CMP to send a statement reflecting the lower $23,655.83 amount.
The Court’s Holding
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed. It held that the regulation unambiguously requires an interconnection customer to pay the actual construction costs of its interconnection and does not condition that obligation on the utility’s timely delivery of a reconciliation statement. The prescribed consequence for a utility’s failure to meet regulatory timelines is the possibility of financial penalties, not cancellation of the customer’s payment obligation. The interconnection agreement likewise provided remedies for default without making the parties’ respective obligations conditional on each other.
The court also held that neither the regulation nor the agreement required CMP to furnish purchase orders or contractor invoices as part of its detailed cost breakdown. Berwick Solar could have sought those materials through discovery after initiating the Commission’s formal adjudicatory process, but the record showed that it did not do so.
On pooled costs, the court found it reasonable for the Commission not to decide the issue after Berwick Solar agreed to focus the proceeding on the timing question and address pooled costs later. The court separately concluded that CMP properly included pooled overhead costs, such as indirect employee and company-computer expenses, in the actual interconnection costs. Substantial evidence also supported the Commission’s finding that the delayed statements did not prejudice Berwick Solar, particularly because the assessed amount decreased and there was no evidence that the delay actually affected financing or project value.
Key Takeaways
- A utility’s failure to issue a reconciliation statement by Chapter 324’s deadline does not discharge an interconnection customer’s separate duty to pay actual construction costs.
- A detailed cost breakdown need not automatically include underlying purchase orders or contractor invoices, although a customer may seek those materials through formal discovery.
- CMP properly included pooled overhead expenses in the project’s actual interconnection costs, and the record supported the finding that Berwick Solar suffered no actual prejudice from the delay.
Why It Matters
The decision separates a utility’s obligation to meet reconciliation deadlines from a generator’s obligation to pay actual interconnection costs. Developers cannot treat an untimely statement as a forfeiture of the utility’s cost recovery rights when the governing regulation instead authorizes other remedies, including potential financial penalties.
The ruling also underscores the importance of preserving issues before the Commission and using available discovery procedures. A party disputing the composition or documentation of interconnection charges should squarely present that issue and seek supporting records during the administrative proceeding.