65-407-314 Me. Code R. § 1
This Chapter applies to all transmission and distribution utilities in the State except those transmission and distribution utilities exempt from electric restructuring pursuant to Title 35-A M.R.S. §3202(6).
"Apportionment" is the amount of money that a transmission and distribution utility shall spend annually on its LIAP. The amount of each transmission and distribution utility's apportionment is established by Commission order.
"Apportionment rate" is the percentage of the Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan fund to which a transmission and distribution utility is entitled.
Apportionment rates are established by Commission order.
"Assessment" is the amount of revenue that each transmission and distribution utility must contribute annually to the cost of the Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan. Each transmission and distribution utility's assessment is established by Commission order.
"CASD" is an acronym that stands for the "Consumer Assistance and Safety Division" of the Commission.
"Carry-forward amount" is the total amount of apportioned funds that were unspent or uncommitted in one LIAP program year and are available for use in a future LIAP program year.
"Commission" is the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
"Community Action Agency" is a private nonprofit agency that is designated by and authorized to accept funds from the Federal Community Services Administration under the Federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.
"DHHS" is an acronym that stands for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
"Federal Poverty Guidelines" are guidelines established by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services adjusted annually on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion by Medicaid and a number of other Federal programs. The federal poverty guidelines are a simplified version of the federal poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and families in poverty.
"LIAP" is an acronym that stands for "Low-Income Assistance Program," which is a program to assist qualified low-income customers pay their electric bills.
Collectively, the LIAPs constitute the Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan. An existing Low-Income Assistance Program is a LIAP.
"LIAP program year" is the period between October 1st and the following September 30th.
"LIHEAP" is an acronym that stands for "Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program," which is a federally funded program that provides financial assistance grants to needy households for home energy bills and is implemented by the Maine State Housing Authority.
A "Lump Sum Benefit Program" is a LIAP that uses a formula to calculate an annual customer benefit amount
A "means-tested program" is an assistance program that measures a family's income against the federal poverty line to determine eligibility for participation in the program.
"MSHA" is an acronym that stands for the Maine State Housing Authority.
An "oxygen pump," also referred to as an "oxygen concentrator," is an electrical device used to provide oxygen to a person for breathing at substantially higher concentrations than those of ambient air.
A "participant" is a customer who is enrolled in a LIAP.
A "percentage of income program" or "PIP" is a LIAP under which a customer's transmission and distribution utility costs are based on a predetermined percentage of the customer's total household income. Transmission and distribution utility costs that exceed the predetermined percentage of total household income are paid as a benefit.
"Physician" is any natural person authorized by law to practice medicine or osteopathy in Maine.
"Residential Customer" is any person who has applied for, been accepted for, and is receiving residential service from a transmission and distribution utility or has agreed to be billed for residential service from a transmission and distribution utility. This term also includes a person who was a customer of the same transmission and distribution utility within the past thirty days and who requests service at the same or a different location.
"Statewide Low-Income Assistance Plan" comprises the individual LIAPs that are being offered by the transmission and distribution utilities in the State in accordance with this Chapter.
"Transmission and distribution utility" means a person, its lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by a court, owning, controlling, operating or managing a transmission and distribution plant for compensation within the State, except where the electricity is distributed by the entity that generates the electricity through private property alone solely for that entity's own use or the use of the entity's tenants and not for sale to others.
"Ventilator" means equipment used to mechanically assist breathing by delivering air to the lungs. Ventilators, as defined, do not include Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) or Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure (Bi-Pap) machines.
CPAP machine provides air at one continuous prescribed pressure to the patient so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible. It does not breathe for the patient.
Bi-Pap machine provides air at two levels of pressure: one for inhalation and a lower pressure during exhalation. It does not breathe for the patient.
65-407 C.M.R. ch. 314, § 1