Jared S. des Rosiers
Partner
F 207.791.1350
Jared des Rosiers focuses his practice on complex energy regulatory matters, infrastructure development and siting, and litigation before the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and in state and federal courts around the country.
In each case, Jared strives to develop a comprehensive strategy for success in collaboration with his clients, and then efficiently achieve their business, regulatory, and policy goals through creative solutions, persuasive advocacy, and effective negotiations. Jared is equally comfortable when litigation is needed, and effectively uses discovery, witness preparation, motion practice, and trial, as necessary, to achieve his clients' goals in the most cost-effective manner possible.
Jared has deep experience representing clients on energy regulatory, siting and investigation matters, with respect to energy infrastructure, rate recovery and design, ISO/RTO participation and market design, enforcement investigations, power purchase agreement disputes, and smart grid implementation. In recent years, he has served as lead counsel on all aspects of the development of some of New England’s largest transmission projects.
Jared leads Pierce Atwood’s Energy Practice Group and is a member of the firm's Management Committee.
Honors & Distinctions
- Named "Lawyer of the Year" in Maine for Energy Law by The Best Lawyers in America® (2018, 2020, 2022)
- Nominated as Avangrid's "Supplier of the Year" for Service Excellence (2016 and 2017)
- Recognized by Chambers USA as a top-ranked "Band 1" attorney for Energy & Natural Resources Law
- Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation, Energy Law, Administrative/Regulatory Law, and Energy Regulatory Law (2010-present)
- Named by Super Lawyers as a top-rated lawyer in Maine for Energy & Natural Resources (2012-present)
- Named a Maine Bar Fellow in 2010
Professional Activities
- Member, Cumberland County and Maine State Bar Associations
- Member, Energy Bar Association
- Jared regularly participates in regulatory and energy infrastructure seminars, including Harvard Electricity Policy Group’s Symposium and Transmission Expansion (March 2023); NECPUC’s 74th Symposium, Solving the Transmission Challenge for Decarbonization (May 2024); Pierce Atwood’s webinar on Transmission Line Development in the Northeast (July 2021); Half Moon’s Issues in Maine Energy and Electric Utility Regulation (April 2021); LSI's Renewable Energy in New England conference (September 2020); Burns & McDonnell's symposium on stakeholder relations for transmission projects (October 2016); LSI's Energy in the Northeast programs (September 2016 & 2015); ABA’s webinar Current Legal Challenges in Energy and Water Infrastructure Development (August 2016); Harvard Electricity Policy Group's winter meeting (February 2007); and the ABA's "Quick Teleconference" (January 2007) on the Ninth Circuit's decision in Public Utilities Commission of California v. FERC.
- Jared has also organized and hosted Pierce Atwood's Energy Infrastructure symposiums, which strive to educate and connect policymakers, developers, investors, and other stakeholders interested in the development of energy infrastructure in the Northeast.
Publications
- Co-author, COVID-19 Cost Recovery: Best Practices for Utilities and Regulators, Public Utilities Fortnightly (December 2020)
- Co-author, Mobile-Sierra and Market-Based Regulation: How Will the Supreme Court Strike the Balance? American Bar Association Energy Litigation Journal (Spring 2008)
- CAISO's Physical Validation Settlement Service: A Useful Tool for All LMP-Based Markets, The Electricity Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 8. (October 2005)
Civic Activities
- Chair, Catholic Charities Maine (2024-present)
- Vice Chair, Catholic Charities Maine (2022-present)
- Director, Catholic Charities Maine (2020-present)
- Director, VLP Inc., (2019-present)
- Volunteer, Preble Street Resource Center (2015-present)
- President, Notre Dame Law Association (2013-2015)
- Regional director, Notre Dame Law Association (2007-2013)
- Member, Notre Dame Law School Advisory Council (2013-2015)
- Trustee, Maine Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection (2011-2017)
- Finance Council member, Holy Martyrs Parish, Falmouth, Maine (2006-2011)
- Alternate public member, Maine Labor Relations Board (2000-2010)
Practice Areas
In recent years, Jared has successfully served as lead counsel on several major energy regulatory proceedings, transmission projects, and commercial disputes in Maine and throughout New England, and in Utah and Washington, DC.
Representative Experience
- Representation of Maine's largest transmission and distribution utility in:
- Seeking MPUC exemptions or approval of a reorganization whereby the utility’s ultimate parent acquires the publicly traded minority ownership interests of its U.S. parent (MPUC Docket No. 2024-00117)
- Defending a MPUC prudency challenge to $53 million in storm restoration costs (MPUC Docket No. 2023-00038)
- Serving as lead counsel for permitting the 1,200 MW HVDC New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project between Maine and Quebec before the MPUC, Maine DEP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. DOE and ISO-NE, and obtaining a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for the project in May 2019 that was affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in March 2020 (NextEra Energy Resources, LLC v. Maine Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 2020 ME 34) (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00232)
- Defending MPUC show cause investigation concerning utility's winter disconnection notices (MPUC Docket No. 2020-00017)
- Serving as lead counsel in an MPUC investigation into the justness and reasonableness of distribution rates that led to an increase in client's delivery rates of more than $17 million (MPUC Docket No. 2018-00194)
- Participating in a Maine PUC investigation regarding affiliate generation issues (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00006) and Maine PUC rulemaking (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00262)
- Obtaining approval for the implementation of a new customer relationship management and billing system (MPUC Docket No. 2015-40)
- Seeking approval of a 345 kV transmission line linking the Northern Maine Transmission System to ISO New England in a first-of-its-kind competitive transmission approval proceeding before the Maine PUC (MPUC Docket No. 2014-48)
- Obtaining approval of a 10.7% increase in distribution rates, significant modifications to rate design and revenue decoupling mechanism, and an improved storm cost recovery mechanism in a 16-month rate case proceeding (MPUC Docket No. 2013-168)
- Obtaining a CPCN for the Maine Power Reliability Program, a $1.4 billion transmission upgrade across the state of Maine (MPUC Docket No. 2008-255), and representing the client utility on related disputes with neighboring landowners and contractors before the Maine PUC and in the U.S. District Court for Maine
- Obtaining a CPCN for major transmission upgrades in the Lewiston/Auburn area (MPUC Docket No. 2011-420)
- Participating in the Maine PUC investigation of transmission planning criteria that established "safe harbor" standards that closely tracked those proposed by firm clients (MPUC Docket No. 2011-494)
- Representation of a major transmission developer regarding the development of a 1000 MW HVDC transmission solution in New York State, including assistance on NYISO public policy transmission planning and NYPSC Article VII filing
- Representation of a power marketer in a confidential investigation by FERC's Office of Enforcement concerning scheduling certain physical power transactions between ISO/RTOs
- Representation of a large power marketer in an arbitration against the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) regarding MISO's after-the-fact rejection of certain Financial Transmission Rights
Latest Updates in Energy
Representative Experience
- Representation of Maine's largest transmission and distribution utility in:
- Preparing proposals for the NECEC transmission project to deliver clean energy from Quebec to New England in response to Massachusetts 2017 Section 83D solicitation, negotiating the resulting Transmission Service Agreements when the NECEC was selected as the winning project, and related contract amendments during project development
- Serving as lead counsel for all aspects of permitting the NECEC project, including obtaining a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the Maine PUC in May 2019 (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00232), which was affirmed by the Maine Law Court in March 2020 (NextEra Energy Resources, LLC v. Maine Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 2020 ME 34), and obtaining other permitting before the Maine DEP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. DOE and ISO-NE, and related appeals and litigation in state and federal courts
- Submitting proposals for a solicitation for transmission solutions to permit the interconnection of renewable generation resources in northern Maine to the ISO-NE transmission grid
- Participating in a Maine PUC investigation regarding affiliate generation issues (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00006) and Maine PUC rulemaking (MPUC Docket No. 2017-00262)
- Proposing two 345 kV transmission solutions in the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island Clean Energy RFP to transmit large quantities of new renewable resources located in northern and western Maine to the ISO-NE grid
- Seeking approval of a 345 kV transmission line linking the Northern Maine Transmission System to ISO New England in a first-of-its-kind competitive transmission approval proceeding before the Maine PUC (MPUC Docket No. 2014-48)
- Obtaining a CPCN for the Maine Power Reliability Program, a $1.4 billion transmission upgrade across the state of Maine (MPUC Docket No. 2008-255) and representing the client utility on related disputes with neighboring landowners and contractors before the Maine PUC and in the U.S. District Court for Maine
- Obtaining a CPCN for major transmission upgrades in the Lewiston/Auburn area (MPUC Docket No. 2011-420)
- Representation of a major transmission developer regarding the development of a 1000 MW HVDC transmission solution in New York State, including assistance on NYISO public policy transmission planning and NYPSC Article VII filing
Latest Updates in Energy Infrastructure Project Development & Finance
Representative Experience
- Represented utility client to successfully defend challenge to a transmission corridor lease needed for the construction of the NECEC Project and to have citizens’ initiative provision purporting to vacate the lease declared unconstitutional under the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Black v. Bureau of Parks and Lands, 2022 ME 58)
- Represented utility client to successfully challenge the retroactive application of provisions of citizens’ initiative seeking to block the NECEC Project on vested rights grounds under the Due Process Clause of the Maine Constitution (Maine Supreme Judicial Court, NECEC Transmission LLC v. Bureau of Parks and Lands, 2022 ME 48)
- Represented utility client to successfully challenge the constitutionality of a citizens' initiative seeking to rescind CPCN for the NECEC Project (Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Avangrid Networks, Inc. v. Secretary of State, 2020 ME 109)
- Represented major spring water company obtaining Maine PUC approval for a contract with a local water utility (MPUC Docket No. 2012-487; Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 2016 ME 71)
- Represented Canyons ski resort in Park City, Utah in a breach of contract dispute in Utah state court that resulted in a $54.4 million verdict, one of the largest in Utah history
- Represented on a pro bono basis a nonprofit senior transportation provider in breach of contract/non-competition lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine