PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 16, 2020
Gov. Janet Mills on Monday asked federal energy regulators to dismiss a request that she said threatens to scuttle Maine’s authority to oversee a program vital to the operation of solar electric installations at more than 6,000 Maine homes, businesses and municipal facilities. At issue is whether states or the federal government should control the regulation of net metering, the billing mechanism that credits solar power generators for the electricity they send to the grid. A petition, from the New England Ratepayers Association, which claims to represent families and businesses, asks FERC the declare federal jurisdiction over wholesale energy sales generated by electric customers.