PUC staff backs granting CMP an exemption to review of change in corporate ownership [Video]

The staff of the Maine Public Utilities Commission recommended Monday that regulators grant Central Maine Power’s request for an exemption to a review of its proposed change in corporate ownership.

A hearing examiner’s report to the PUC commissioners on Monday supported CMP’s request to exempt it from state review. CMP argued that Maine regulators had already authorized Spanish energy giant Iberdrola’s indirect ownership of CMP and Maine Natural Gas in 2008, when Iberdrola acquired Energy East Corp., a predecessor of Avangrid Inc., CMP’s parent company.

“An exemption is warranted based on the commission’s prior approval of the corporate structure that petitioners now seek to resurrect along with the plethora of conditions on that approval that remain in effect and continue to serve ratepayers’ interests,” the hearing examiner wrote.

The Maine Office Public Advocate, Natural Resources Council of Maine and Our Power, an advocacy group and frequent critic of CMP and investor-owned utilities generally, urged …