65-407-870 Me. Code R. § 2

Current through 2024-25, June 19, 2024
Section 407-870-2 - INTEREST ON DEPOSITS
A.General Policy. Interest on all customer deposits held by a utility shall equal the rate on one-year Treasury Securities in effect on November 1 of each year, as published in the Weekly Update of the Federal Reserve's H.15 Statistical Release (http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/Current/). If November 1 falls on a weekend, the applicable one-year Treasury rate will be the one in effect on the first business day of November. To ensure that customers earn a modest return on deposits held by utilities, in no case may the customer deposit rate be set at less than a floor of 0.20%.
B.Annual Notice. Each year no later than November 15, the Commission's Administrative Director shall issue a notice to all public utilities setting the rate to be paid by public utilities on customer deposits for the next calendar year beginning January 1.
C.Effective Date of Interest Rate. The effective date for the annual change described in § 2(A) shall be January 1.
D.Effective Date of Deposit. The effective date of the deposit is the date that the first payment of the deposit is made. If the effective interest rate changes while a deposit is held by the utility, the new interest rate shall be applied during its effective period. Interest shall accrue until the deposit is returned to the customer, regardless of the amount of time the deposit is held by the utility. All interest shall be credited to the customer annually and upon termination of the service or the return of the deposit by the utility. Compounding of interest is not required. The utility shall have the option of crediting accrued interest to the customer's deposit and paying the interest to the customer when the deposit is returned or crediting that accrued interest to the customer's bill. If credited to the customer's bill, the reason for the credit shall be specified on the customer's bill.
E.Terms and Conditions. Every utility must file terms and conditions stating that the interest rate on customer deposits shall be the rate set by the Public Utilities Commission in accordance with Chapter 870 of the Public Utilities Commission Rules.

65-407 C.M.R. ch. 870, § 2