Maine community solar companies sue over changes to net energy billing laws
A group of 11 companies claim a monthly charge that could start in January violates their constitutional rights.
Communities:
11/24/25
Daniel Kool
Staff Writer
EXCERPTS
Community solar companies across Maine sued the Public Utilities Commission Monday, attempting to block the implementation of a new law designed to reduce the impact of solar development subsidies on the state’s electricity customers.
A group of 11 companies are claiming the law, which modifies Maine’s long-fought-over net energy billing program, violates their constitutional rights.
The law, passed earlier this year, restructured the program, including by creating a monthly charge for some community solar projects based on their size. Those charges could range from $2,800 to $30,000, depending on how much electricity a given system is capable of producing, and are designed to offset the distribution costs that could otherwise fall to ratepayers.
But the community solar companies claim it would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to their businesses and are asking for a preliminary injunction before Jan. 1, when the new law is slated to take effect..............................
.........................The Maine Office of the Public Advocate forecast that the new law would save electricity customers about $1.2 billion over the next 16 years. The existing net billing law is currently forecast to cost Mainers — including those who do not participate — more than $230 million this year, according to the public advocate.
A spokesperson for the utilities commission said its attorneys had just received and were still reviewing the lawsuit after 4 p.m., referring questions to the Maine Office of the Attorney General. A spokesperson for the AG’s office said they were unable to confirm whether it is representing the utilities commission in this case.
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/11/24/maine-community-solar-compan...
*************************************
Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Views: 17
Comment
-
Comment by Dan McKay 4 hours ago
-
Dudley, They are all from out of state. If you can get WVOM on your computer, go the the GHRT Rewinds and listen to Jim LaBrecque episode of 11-26-25. He nmames them all.
-
Comment by Dudley G. Gray 4 hours ago
-
Just who are the eleven companies?
-
-
The Office of the Public Advocate states that LD 1777 "reduces payments to large-scale community solar projects by approximately 20%."
So, here is the rub. Subscribers to Community Solar are required for the projects to receive the generous subsidies built into the program.
Will subscribers continue to contract to Community Solar without the 10% to 15% bill reduction offers?
How can Community Solar threaten subscribers with the removal of this 10% to15% savings without losing subscribers?
-
-
And I wish I could sue everytime the State raises income taxes or sales tax or fees for the multitude of licenses demanded we acquire. These unscrupulous, out of state shysters, who could have helped write the community solar laws are scam artisits, jingling their 10%-15% savings to unexpecting individuals, commercial businesses and their new favorite target; municipalities. On their own admittance, their rate of return on investment is 7 years. Imagine a 20 year contract that has a 7 year ROI.
And they have the gall to threaten subscribers by stating in their own words: "Tens of thousands of Maine households and institutions currently save 10–20% on their electricity bills through community solar. LD 1777 would jeopardize those savings by imposing charges many projects can’t absorb,"
We know in March 2025, CMP stated that the portion of the "Service Charge' applied to your residential electric bill attributle to Net Energy Billing was $7.06 per month($ 84.72 per year) With the October, 2025 rate hike, this NEB cost went to $8.84 per month per the OPA, ( $106.08 per year) A $21.36 increase. When these scam artists came to my hometown and offered the select board a subscription that they said would save the town $200,000 on Town Accounts over 20 years, the board lovingly and promptly bought into the scam. Well, my pencil came out and $200,000 over 20 years averages $10,000 per year. My town has 1193 individual property taxpayers, so $10,000 per year divided by 1193 is $8.38 per year per taxpayer. So, with the "service charge " on bills going up $21.36 in six months (March to October) due to Net Energy Billing, which extrapolated for 12 months is $42.72, I and my fellow hometown taxpayers get to pay $42.72 per year for a $8.38 savings on our property tax bill.
Anyone holding a subscription with these snake-oil salesmen should immediately cancel their contracts with them and the State should immediately put a stop to Net Energy Billing and start devising a method so that CMP customers can recover their losses.
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/
Not yet a member?
Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?
We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi
Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!
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/
© 2025 Created by Webmaster.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine