Energy (Solar)

LD 1966 improves access to community solar programs for low- and moderate-income Maine residents by requiring utilities to clearly disclose costs and benefits of public policy charges (including solar programs) on customer bills. The bill mandates that utilities display a comprehensive description of all costs and benefits associated with community solar and other public policy programs, ensuring transparency for customers. It also requires utilities to provide consolidated billing for distributed generation resources using "net crediting" by June 2026, streamlining how solar credits are applied. These changes aim to make community solar participation more accessible and understandable for households that might otherwise face barriers due to unclear billing practices.

LD 1777 sets new payment rates for businesses and other nonresidential customers in Maine who generate electricity from solar panels or similar systems (distributed generation resources) and send excess power to the grid under net energy billing. For systems over 1 megawatt, the payment rate equals the utility's standard rate for the customer plus 75% of transmission/distribution costs for small commercial customers, with exceptions for projects that began construction before September 2022 or are collocated with a customer using at least half the output. Smaller systems (1 megawatt or less) receive a base rate calculated from 2020 utility rates, increasing by 2.25% annually starting in 2023. The bill also caps all rates at 1.5 times the average rate in neighboring states to ensure fairness and competitiveness, with changes effective January 1, 2026.

This bill prohibits Maine's electricity utilities from including certain net energy billing program costs in customer rates. Specifically, after June 30, 2026, utilities cannot recover costs related to customer-generated solar energy credits (kilowatt-hour credit program) or commercial/institutional net energy billing programs through rate hikes. Instead, these costs must be paid from the state's General Fund via a newly created Net Energy Billing Cost Stabilization Fund. The Public Utilities Commission will manage payments to utilities from this fund, requiring annual cost estimates and a process to return overpayments. This directly affects electricity consumers by preventing rate increases tied to these programs and shifts the funding responsibility to state taxpayers.

This bill ends Maine's net energy billing program, which allowed residential and commercial solar customers to receive bill credits for excess electricity they sent back to the grid. It repeals all existing rules governing this program (including sections 3209-A, 3209-B, and 3209-C) and explicitly prohibits the Public Utilities Commission from requiring utilities to offer net energy billing in the future. The change directly affects current and future solar customers who previously relied on this billing method for compensation. It shifts Maine's policy away from compensating solar generators for exported energy toward a different framework for distributed generation.

LD 359 prohibits certain customers from participating in net energy billing (a system where solar/wind energy credits offset electricity bills) unless they have a direct financial stake in the renewable energy system. It requires customers to own, lease, or have a power purchase agreement for the system, effectively ending shared solar programs where multiple customers pool resources without direct ownership. The bill limits shared arrangements to 10 meters for investor-owned utilities and sets size limits (under 5 MW for most systems). It directly affects residential and commercial customers in "shared solar" programs who previously could join without owning the equipment. Existing projects approved before June 2021 are exempt from these new requirements.

LD 1936 updates Maine's net energy billing program to increase equity and reduce costs. It requires participants to have a financial interest in their distributed energy systems (like solar panels) and defines "nonresident program owners" as entities with principal business outside Maine. The bill limits agreement terms to prevent indefinite extensions, sets deadlines for larger projects (1-2 megawatts) to be operational by specific dates, and mandates utilities to replace departing participants with low-income customers in the same service area under similar terms. Small, customer-owned projects (1 megawatt or less) are exempt from some term limits and deadlines.