BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 13, 2023
Maine’s public advocate warned the Maine Legislature on Thursday the costs of community solar programs for electricity customers are likely to explode in the coming years. Community solar projects, which are funded by passing costs on to nonsubscribers through their electricity bills, are expected to cost electricity customers $220 million a year by 2025, with the increase continuing for the next 20 years, Maine Public Advocate Bill Harwood said in his testimony on LD 1374. The bill would eliminate net energy billing, which provides discounts on electricity bills for those who subscribe to community solar farms. The savings for subscribers, however, are not absorbed by utilities or solar developers. Rather they are passed on to electricity customers who don’t participate in community solar.