Without action from the Legislature, Maine will be stuck with rules from the Public Utilities Commission that will needlessly cost residents millions of dollars and stall solar energy generation.
That’s why it is critical that lawmakers override a veto from Gov. Paul LePage of a bill that gives the PUC until 2019 to come up with better rules compensating residents and businesses that generate more solar energy than they need and sell it to the electricity grid. The bill would also encourage more solar power by easing regulations on the ownership structure of community solar projects and the number of customers who can participate in one. When hurdles have been removed in other states, there has been significant growth in these small-scale projects.
Both the House and Senate easily passed an amended version of LD 1504 late last month.
But a repeat of the House and Senate votes is no sure thing, especially in the face of lobbying from LePage and power companies that seek to maximize profits, not necessarily keep rates low for their customers. Last year, the Legislature also passed a bipartisan bill to update the state’s rules around solar power generation. LePage vetoed that legislation as well. When it came time for the override vote, many House Republicans reversed their earlier support for the legislation and voted to uphold LePage’s veto. Six lawmakers literally took a walk and did not vote on it, allowing LePage’s veto to stand.
As a result, bipartisan compromise legislation that would have modernized Maine’s rules for solar power generation fell by the wayside. Instead, the PUC wrote rules that are unworkable, are costly to ratepayers and won’t spur a needed increase in solar-generated energy.
The PUC rule, which goes into effect in January, will assess transmission and distribution fees on power generated by homeowners and others who generate solar power on their premises and sell the excess into the power grid.
To collect such a charge, utility companies will have to update their billing systems — which all ratepayers would have to pay for as part of their electric bills.
The timing for this expensive new requirement couldn’t be worse for ratepayers of Central Maine Power Co. That utility is in the midst of a billing system update estimated to cost $55 million. But this new system would not accommodate the new transmission and delivery costs that are part of the new PUC rule. Ratepayers are already paying for this system upgrade, and they would also have to cover the additional costs related to the changes required by the PUC’s rules. Ratepayers also would pay for billing system upgrades for the state’s other utilities.
In addition, new meters would need to be installed at every solar-generating location that sells power to the grid. These meters would measure the power generated, while existing meters would measure the amount of power used at these locations, including homes. Each meter costs $500. The PUC rules does not take advantage of smart meters that already have been installed in Maine, at ratepayer expense.
In his veto message last week, LePage repeated untrue accusations that net metering “subsidizes the cost of solar panels at the expense of the elderly and poor.” In fact, the PUC found that all ratepayers are benefiting from the solar energy contributed to the grid by solar customers.
The better option is to override LePage’s veto and allow LD 1504 to go into effect.
Lawmakers have already voted once to take this path. They must do so again.