Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

The Gaslighting Stops When Net Energy Billing is Eliminated

Net Energy Billing is not going away soon. Current projects thriving from ratepayer subsidies will thrive for many years, as they are under contract for up to twenty years. The Maine PUC lists these ratepayer costs as stranded costs or also known as "public policy" costs. These costs have become an incredible burden to the household budget as customers in the smallest rate class pay the largest amount. The "delivery service" charge on the delivery portion of the monthly CMP bill keeps growing each year, doubling from June 30, 2023, to July 1, 2024. It has to stop!

The Maine PUC is wrestling with new rules to include other rate classes that previously were exempt from paying solar subsidies. Including these rate classes in NEB payments may or may not dampen the impact felt by the residential rate class as the growth of solar in Maine expands rapidly. As of November 30, 2024, the nameplate capacity of NEB projects accounts for 24.9% of CMPs peak load. Larger projects that receive subsidies named "tariff rate" agreements assume 22.5% of peak load. CMP data reveals this growth has more than doubled since March 31, 2023.

The major costs associated with Net Energy Billing are paid by the fixed "delivery service" charge and is the same amount per CMP residential rate class account, regardless of kilowatt hours amounts shown on the bill.

The PUC new rules that include previously exempt rate classes, also based on a fixed "delivery service" charge, is causing quite the uproar. A number of rate class customers: forest product companies, commercial tire companies, sawmills, municipal sewer departments, wind power projects, hydro power projects, etc. are demanding a volumetric charge to replace the fixed charge which would lower their bills.

The only ones happy with Net Energy Billing are the 10% (85,184 accounts) enrolled in the program that shifts the costs upon the other 90%.

Please read what Dan Burgess of the Governor's Energy Office(an agency with no legislative power) has to say about Net Energy Billing:

Beware! Ultimate Gaslighting Alert!

"Chair Bartlett:

It has become clear that the method by which electric utilities – especially Versant Power – have been directed by the Public Utilities Commission to collect certain costs from electricity customers has placed an acute burden on some customers, particularly certain businesses.

Electricity rate design is complex and at times contentious, but it is inequitable and untenable when a change in the way rates are collected results in nearly a dozen large commercial customers of one utility experiencing a doubling of their monthly electricity bill from one month to the next while many other customers in the same class saw monthly bill decreases. I heard concerns about these cost increases from business owners, particularly those in Aroostook County, while traveling across Maine this fall. We understand the Commission has acknowledged the significant challenges created by current cost collection practices and shares the desire to rectify it. We support the Commission’s efforts to take immediate steps to address this situation.

New clean energy, including solar, can be among the lowest cost new forms of electricity generation available today and is a key component of Maine’s strategy to lower energy costs by reducing our reliance on costly, imported fossil fuels, such as natural gas. Maine experienced firsthand the challenges of being over-reliant on fossil fuels when the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created a global supply constraint that sharply increased energy prices here in Maine. Diversifying our energy sources, especially with clean, home-grown energy, can strengthen Maine’s energy independence—a goal that has long been bipartisan.

New solar projects are being developed in Maine as the result of bipartisan initiatives approved by the State Legislature that have led to competitive procurements for larger scale projects and two distinct net energy bill programs – one that provides a credit to customers that participate in the program and another tariff program that provides direct bill payments for business customers that participate. The early “Net Energy Billing Tariff” program was enacted by bipartisan majorities in the 129th Legislature, and this original statutory design, which is responsible for most of the costs now being collected, was significantly curtailed by the 130th Legislature in 2021 and was effectively ended by the 131st in 2023. The aforementioned credit program also sunsets for new large projects at the end of this year.

Since 2019, these programs, as well as other policy steps taken largely with bipartisan support, successfully launched a vibrant solar industry in our state and revitalized other important clean energy sources including small hydroelectric dams. As documented in a report commissioned by the PUC for the Legislature earlier this year, these projects are also delivering significant benefits to electricity customers, helping to optimize the use of our existing electricity grid by deferring or avoiding more costly utility investments and suppressing wholesale market energy costs. 1 More must be done to ensure these benefits are not only realized, but understood by customers who are otherwise left to question the value of the program costs. Furthermore, Maine’s clean energy policies have clear benefits for customers and our economy as a whole. As we look beyond the Net Energy Billing Tariff program to the next phase of clean energy deployment in Maine, including through the support of unprecedented new federal funding, Maine policymakers have competitive, low-cost opportunities to continue deploying new clean energy, including solar, which will reduce our energy costs. We must not allow this change to the cost allocation for a past legislative program derail our collective progress.

In addition, I urge the Commission to utilize to the maximum extent possible the additional authority extended to you through legislation last year to more equitably recover the overall Net Energy Billing Tariff costs that are borne by Maine customers as well as ensure the numerous benefits are transparently and comprehensively documented. Customers paying a so-called “stranded” or “public policy” charge deserve confidence that these costs have been fully examined, fairly distributed, and that absent such investments the alternative would not likely be lower bills, but other, higher expenses for electricity that is dirtier, less reliable, and more reliant on the same fossil fuels which have cost far too much for far too long.

The Governor’s Energy Office appreciates the complexity and challenges of these issues and stands ready to work with the Commission and stakeholders to ensure that the state’s programs meet our shared goals of reducing our dependence on out-of-state fossil fuels and ensuring an energy system that is more affordable, reliable and clean for the benefit of our state. "

Sincerely,

Dan Burgess Director Maine Governor’s Energy Office

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U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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