The Public Utilities Commission authorized Our Power to be reimbursed up to $80,000 for attorney’s fees, an expert witness and other costs for opposing the ownership change. On Friday, regulators set the final amount to be reimbursed at $46,958.

“It’s really just about making sure everyone has a seat at the table, not just the big players with deep pockets,” said Seth Berry, executive director of Our Power and a former state legislator who helped draft legislation authorizing the new compensation policy.

CMP shareholders, not ratepayers, will foot the bill for compensation to Our Power.

State legislation enacted last year authorizes the PUC to direct a utility to compensate a participant in a regulatory case in addition to an outside group, such as an environmental advocacy organization, that seeks status as an intervenor. It also allows compensation in consumer and other cases and not just adjudicatory, or legal, proceedings where evidence is presented.

Public Advocate William Harwood told legislators last year that a billing dispute, for example, might require a consumer to hire an accountant or pay for daycare to free up time to attend a PUC hearing.

The law allows compensation if an intervenor or participant is not adequately represented by the Office of the Public Advocate or PUC staff; the intervenor or participant is likely to substantially contribute to the proceeding; and participation in the proceeding would impose a significant financial hardship on the intervenor or participant.

As of 2021, Maine was one of 16 states that authorizes intervenor compensation, according to the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners. The group said it’s a response to a rise in small-scale energy resources such as solar that draw in developers and homeowners, a greater focus on climate change, and public health and other issues that prompt “more individuals and groups desiring to make their voices heard in state regulatory proceedings.”

Advocates who lobby regulatory agencies often cannot afford to spend the time unless they raise money or are compensated, the association said.

Rebecca Schultz, senior advocate with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said in a statement that the intervenor funding program builds on a successful model used in the U.S. “to democratize this process by bringing new insights and expertise to the table to better reflect the voices of all people, not just a few.”

CMP did not comment on the PUC decision allowing compensation to Our Power. In June it urged regulators to reject the group’s bid to intervene in CMP’s request that the state waive state regulatory review of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola’s proposed $2.5 billion acquisition of the remaining shares it does not own of Avangrid Inc., CMP’s Connecticut-based parent company.

CMP told regulators that Our Power failed to “identify what, if any, continuing vitality” it has following voter rejection in November 2023 of its public utility proposal.

“This is not a rulemaking or a generic proceeding that will establish policy concerning public utility governance or control, but instead concerns whether the (PUC) should exempt or approve a reorganization … that will not result in the change in control of petitioners,” CMP told regulators. “As such, discretionary intervention for Our Power is not warranted.”

The PUC ruled in September that CMP can skip state review of the Iberdrola-Avangrid deal. Our Power, the state Public Advocate and Natural Resources Council of Maine urged regulators to review the acquisition, which would make Avangrid a privately held company not bound by federal disclosure requirements.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include the final sum regulators ordered to be reimbursed.